Chapter C: S. Paine, of East Bethel, Vt., found a nest of this species about (26)

This species was observed by Mr. Aiken in Colorado Territory for about three weeks following March 20, after which they were seen no more.

It breeds more or less abundantly in the northern and eastern portions of Maine. About Calais and in all the islands of the Bay of Fundy, and throughout New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, I found this by far the most common and familiar species, especially at Pictou, where it abounded in the gardens, in repeated instances coming within the outbuildings to build its nests. In a woodshed connected with the dwelling of Mr. Dawson, my attention was called to the nests of several of these birds, built within reach of the hand, and in places where the family were passing and repassing throughout the day. In Pictou they were generally called the Bluebird by the common people. On my ride from Halifax to Pictou, I also found these birds breeding by the roadside, often under the shelter of a projecting bank, in the manner of the _Passerculus savanna_. I afterward found them nesting in similar situations among the White Mountains, the roadsides seeming to be a favorite situation. In habits and notes, at Pictou, they reminded me of the common _Spizella socialis_, but were, if anything, more fearless and confiding, coming into the room where the family were at their meals, and only flying away when they had secured a crumb of sufficient size.

In Western Massachusetts they breed in all parts of the range of Green Mountains, from Blandford to North Adams. They appear about Springfield in October and November, and are for a while abundant, and are then gone until March, when they return in full song, and remain numerous into April, and less common until into May. In the eastern part of the State they are found from October to late in May, with some irregularity and in varying numbers. Mr. Audubon did not meet with any on the coast of Labrador, and Dr. Coues did not find them so abundant as he expected, and did not observe any until the latter part of July, at which time the young were already hatched, and they were associated in small companies. They kept entirely in the thick woods, and seemed rather timid.

Their food is small berries, seeds of grasses and small plants, insects, and larvæ. They seek the latter on the ground, and in the winter are said to frequent the poultry-yards, and avail themselves of the services of the fowls in turning up the earth. On the ground they hop about in a peculiar manner, apparently without moving their feet. At night and during storms they shelter themselves in the thick branches of evergreens, and also in stacks of hay and piles of brushwood.

During the winter the Snowbird appears to be rather more numerous in the Middle and Southern States than in New England. In the former they appear late in October, at first on the borders of woods, searching for food among the fallen and decaying leaves. Later in the season, as the weather becomes colder, and the snow deprives them of this means of feeding, they resort to the roadsides and feed on the seeds of the taller weeds, and to the farm-houses and farm-yards, and even enter within the limits of large cities, where they become very tame and familiar. They are much exposed to attacks from several kinds of Hawks, and the apparent timidity they evince at certain times and places is due to their apprehensions of this danger. The sudden rustle of the wings of a harmless fowl will cause the whole flock to take at once to flight, returning as soon as their alarm is found to be needless, but repeated again and again when the same dreaded sounds are heard.

Neither Wilson, Nuttall, nor Audubon appear to have ever met with the nests or eggs of this bird, though the first met with them breeding both among the Alleghanies, in Virginia, and the highlands of Pennsylvania and New York. In Otsego County, in the latter State, Mr. Edward Appleton was the first to discover and identify their nest and eggs, as cited by Mr. Audubon in the third volume of his Birds of America. They were found in considerable numbers in the town of Otsego. Their nests were on the ground in sheltered positions, some of them with covered entrances. Their complement of eggs was four. One of their nests was sent me, and was characteristic of all I have since seen, having an external diameter of four and a half inches and a depth of two. The cavity was deep and capacious for the bird. The base and periphery of the nest were made of slender strips of bark, coarse straws, fine roots, and horsehair, lined with fine mosses and the fur of smaller animals. The eggs were of a rounded-oval shape; their ground-color is a creamy yellowish-white, marked with spots and blotches of a reddish-brown confluent around the larger portion of the egg, but rarely covering either end. They measure .75 by .60 of an inch, not varying in size from those of _J. oregonus_.

Junco hyemalis, var. aikeni, RIDGWAY.

WHITE-WINGED SNOWBIRD.

SP. CHAR. Generally similar to _J. hyemalis_, but considerably larger, with more robust bill; two white bands on the wing, and three, instead of two, outer tail-feathers entirely white. No. 61,302 ♂, El Paso Co., Colorado, December 11, 1871, C. E. Aiken: Head, neck, jugulum, and entire upper parts clear ash; the back with a bluish tinge; the lores, quills, and tail-feathers darker; middle and secondary wing-coverts rather broadly tipped with white, forming two conspicuous bands. Lower part of the breast, abdomen, and crissum pure white, the anterior outline against the ash of the jugulum convex; sides tinged with ash. Three lateral tail-feathers entirely white, the third, however, with a narrow streak of dusky on the terminal third of the outer web; the next feather mostly plumbeous, with the basal fourth of the outer web, and the terminal half of the inner, along the shaft, white. Wing, 3.40; tail, 3.20; culmen, .50; depth of bill at base, .30; tarsus, .80.

HAB. El Paso County, Colorado.

At first sight, this bird appears to be a very distinct species, being larger than any other North American form, and possessing in the white bands on the wing characters entirely peculiar. Its large size, however, we can attribute to its alpine habitat, agreeing in this respect, as compared with _J. hyemalis_, with the _J. alticola_ of Guatemala, which we can only consider an alpine or somewhat local form of _J. cinereus_. That the white bands on the wing do not constitute a character sufficiently important to be considered of specific value is proved by the fact that in many specimens of _J. oregonus_, and occasionally in _J. hyemalis_, there is sometimes quite a distinct tendency to these bands in the form of obscure white tips to the coverts.

HABITS. But little is known as to the habits of this variety; probably they do not differ from those of its congeners. It was met with by Mr. C. E. Aiken, near Fountain, El Paso County, in Colorado Territory, in the winter of 1871-72. They were rare in the early winter, became rather common during the latter part of February and the first of March, and had all disappeared by the first of April. During winter only males were seen, but, in the spring, the females were the most numerous. They were usually seen singly, or in companies of two or three, and not, like the others, in larger flocks.

Junco oregonus, SCLATER.

OREGON SNOWBIRD.

_Fringilla oregona_, TOWNSEND, J. A. N. Sc. VII, 1837, 188.—IB.
Narrative, 1839, 345.—AUD. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 68, pl. cccxcviii.
_Struthus oregonus_, BON. List, 1838.—IB. Consp. 1850,
475.—NEWBERRY, Zoöl. Cal. & Or. Route; Rep. P. R. R. VI, iv, 1857,
88. _Niphœa oregona_, AUD. Syn. 1839, 107.—IB. Birds Am. III,
1841, 91, pl. clxviii.—CAB. Mus. Hein. 1851, 134. _Junco
oregonus_, SCLATER, Pr. Zoöl. Soc. 1857, 7.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am.
1858, 466.—LORD, Pr. R. A. Inst. IV, 120 (British
Columbia).—COOPER & SUCKLEY, 202.—COUES, Pr. Phil. Ac. 1866, 85
(Arizona).—DALL & BANNISTER, Tr. Ch. Ac. I, 1869, 284.—COOPER,
Orn. Cal. 1, 199. _Fringilla hudsonia_, LICHT. Beit. Faun. Cal. in
Abh. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, for 1838, 1839, 424 (not _F. hudsonia_,
FORSTER). “_Fringilla atrata_, BRANDT, Icon. Rosso-As. tab. ii, f.
8” (CAB.).

SP. CHAR. Head and neck all round sooty-black; this color extending to the upper part of the breast, but not along the sides under the wings, and with convex outline behind. Interscapular region of the back and exposed surface of the wing-coverts and secondaries dark rufous-brown, forming a square patch. A lighter, more pinkish tint of the same on the sides of breast and belly. Rest of under parts clear white. Rump brownish-ash. Upper tail-coverts dusky. Outer two tail-feathers white; the third with only an obscure streak of white. Bill flesh-color, dusky at tip. Legs flesh-color. Length about 6.50 inches; wing, 3.00.

HAB. Pacific coast of the United States to the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains, and north to Alaska. Stragglers as far east as Fort Leavenworth in winter and Great Bend of Missouri.

Sitka and Oregon specimens have the back of a darker rufous than those from California and the Middle Province, in which this portion of the body, as well as the sides, is paler, and in more abrupt contrast with the head.

Immature and the majority of winter specimens do not have the black of the head and neck so well defined, but edged above more or less with the color of the back, below with light ashy.

The Oregon Snowbird in full plumage is readily distinguishable from the eastern species by the purer white of the belly; the more sharply defined outline of the black of the head passes directly across the upper part of the breast, and is even convex in its posterior outline, without extending down the side of the breast, with its posterior outline strongly concave, as in _hyemalis_. The absence of black or ashy-brown under the wings, with the rufous tinge, are highly characteristic of _oregonus_. The head and neck are considerably blacker; the rufous of the back and wings does not exist in the other. The wings and quills are more pointed; the second quill usually longest, instead of the third, etc. The dusky of the throat reaches in _J. oregonus_ only to the upper part of the breast; to its middle region in _hyemalis_.

Sometimes, in adult males, the middle and greater wing-coverts are faintly tipped with white, indicating two inconspicuous bands.

In a large series of _Juncos_ collected at Fort Whipple, Arizona, by Dr. Coues, are several specimens so decidedly intermediate between _J. oregonus_ and _J. caniceps_ as to suggest the probability of their being hybrids; others, from Fort Burgwyn and Fort Bridger, are exactly like them. With the ashy head and jugulum, and black lores, as well as bright rufous back, of the latter, the sides are pinkish as in the former; while, as in this too, the posterior outline of the ash on jugulum is convex, not concave, and the rufous of the back has a tendency to tinge the wings, instead of being confined to the interscapulars. (See foot-note to synoptical table, p. 579.)

HABITS. Dr. Suckley found this bird extremely abundant in Oregon and Washington Territory, where it holds about the same position that the _hyemalis_ does in the Eastern States. Dr. Cooper states it to be a very common bird in Washington Territory, especially in the winter, when it comes about the houses and farms with precisely the same habits as the common Atlantic species. In the summer it is seen about Puget Sound, in which neighborhood it breeds. He met with young fledglings as early as May 24. At that season they were not gregarious, and were found principally about the edges of woods.

Mr. Ridgway also regards the western Snowbird as, in all appreciable respects, an exact counterpart of the eastern _hyemalis_. In summer he found it inhabiting the pine woods of the mountains, but in winter descending to the lowlands, and entering the towns and gardens in the same manner with the eastern species.

Dr. Cooper states this species to be numerous in winter in nearly every part of California. In the summer it resides among the mountains down to the 32d parallel. On the coast he has not determined its residence farther south than Monterey. The coolness of that locality, and its extensive forests of pines extending to the coast, favor the residence of such birds during the summer. At San Diego he observed them until the first of April, when they retired to the neighboring mountains. A few also were found in the Colorado Valley in the winter. On the Coast Mountains south of Santa Clara he found them breeding in large numbers in May, 1864. One nest contained young, just ready to fly, as early as May 13. This was built in a cavity among the roots of a large tree on a steep bank. It was made of leaves, grasses, and fine root-fibres. On the outside it was covered with an abundant coating of green moss, raised above the surface of the ground. The old birds betrayed the presence of the nest by their extreme anxiety. On the 20th he found another nest on the very summit of the mountains, supposed to be a second laying, as it contained but three eggs. It was slightly sunk in the ground under a fern, and formed like the other, but with less moss around its edge. It was lined with cows’ and horses’ hair. The eggs were bluish-white, with blackish-brown spots of various sizes thickly sprinkled around the larger end, and measuring .74 by .60 of an inch.

The only song Dr. Cooper noticed, of this species, was a faint trill much like that of the _Spizella socialis_, delivered from the top of some low tree in March and April. At other times they have only a sharp call-note, by which they are distinguishable from other Sparrows. While some migrate far to the south in winter, others remain as far north as the Columbia River, frequenting, in large numbers, the vicinity of barns and houses, especially when the snow is on the ground. They raise two broods in a season.

Dr. Coues found this species a very common winter resident in Arizona, arriving at Fort Whipple about October 10, soon becoming very abundant, and continuing so until the second week in April. Stragglers were seen until May 10.

Dr. Woodhouse also observed numbers of the western Snowbird on the San Francisco Mountains, in the month of October, where they were very abundant. Many specimens were obtained in Sitka by Mr. Bischoff. None have so far been recorded from the Aleutian Islands.

Dr. Kennerly frequently saw these birds near the Pueblo of Zuñi in New Mexico; in the months of October and November they were very abundant among the cedars to the westward of that settlement as far as the Little Colorado. Dr. Heermann also met with them near Fort Yuma in December, having previously noticed them during the fall, migrating in large flocks.

Mr. Aiken frequently found this species throughout the winter in Colorado. It was very common during March and the first of April. By May only a few straggling females were seen, and then they all disappeared.

The nests of this species have a general resemblance in structure to those of the common _hyemalis_. They are well constructed and remarkably symmetrical, made externally of mosses and other coarse materials, within which is very nicely woven an inner nest of fine, bent stems of grasses, lined with hair. The eggs, four or five in number, resemble those of the _hyemalis_, but are lighter. They have a ground-color of greenish-white, marked about the larger end with fine dots of reddish-brown. Their measurement is .75 by .60 of an inch.

Junco caniceps, BAIRD.

RED-BACKED SNOWBIRD.

_Struthus caniceps_, WOODHOUSE, Pr. A. N. Sc. Phila. VI, Dec. 1852,
202 (New Mexico and Texas).—IB. Sitgreaves’s Report Zuñi &
Colorado, 1853, 83, pl. iii. _Junco caniceps_, BAIRD, Birds N. Am.
1858, 468, pl. lxxii, f. 1.—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 201.

SP. CHAR. Bill yellowish; black at the tip. Above ashy (of the same shade before and behind); the head and neck all round of this color, which extends (paling a little) along the sides, leaving the middle of the belly and crissum quite abruptly white. Lores conspicuously but not very abruptly darker. Interscapular region abruptly reddish chestnut-brown, which does not extend on the wings, and makes a triangular patch. Two outer tail-feathers entirely white; third with a long white terminal stripe on the inner web. Young streaked with blackish above and below, except along middle of belly and behind. Length, 6.00; wing, 3.23; tail, 3.04.

HAB. Rocky Mountains; from Black Hills to San Francisco Mountains, Arizona. Wahsatch and Uintah Mountains (RIDGWAY).

This species is similar to the common _J. hyemalis_ in color, though paler; the tint of the under parts and sides is not quite so dark, and is less abruptly defined against the white. The conspicuous chestnut patch on the back and the dusky lores will distinguish them. The edge of the outer web of the third tail-feather is brown, not white. It differs from _oregonus_ and _cinereus_ in having no chestnut on the wings, especially the tertials, and from the former in the extension of the ash of the neck along the sides and much lighter head.

Young birds are streaked above and below as in other species; they may be distinguished from those of _cinereus_ by the rufous being confined to the interscapular region, the same as in the adult.

The type skin of _Junco dorsalis_ of Dr. Henry (see foot-note to synoptical table, p. 580) differs mainly in having the whole upper mandible entirely black, as in _J. cinereus_; and, as in the latter, the jugulum is pale ash, fading gradually into the white of the abdomen, instead of deep ash abruptly defined. It is very probably, as suggested by Mr. Ridgway, a hybrid with _J. cinereus_.

HABITS. This species was first discovered and described by Dr. Woodhouse from specimens obtained by him among the San Francisco Mountains in Arizona. When procured, it was feeding in company with the _Junco oregonus_ and various species of _Parus_. Its habits appeared to be very similar to those of the western Snowbird, as well as to those of the common _J. hyemalis_.

Dr. Coues states that he found this bird a not very common winter resident at Fort Whipple, where its times of arrival and departure, as well as its general habits, were identical with those of _J. oregonus_, with which it very freely associated. From this we may naturally infer that in New Mexico and Arizona it appears only as a winter visitant, and that in summer it goes elsewhere to breed. Its summer resorts, as well as our knowledge of its breeding-habits, nest, and eggs, remain to be determined, or are only imperfectly known. It evidently retires to the highlands and to mountain regions to breed, and probably has a much more extended habitat than that of which we now have any knowledge. Upon this problem Mr. Ridgway’s observations have already shed some valuable and suggestive light. He met with this bird only among the pine woods of the Wahsatch Mountains, where, however, it was a very common bird, and where it was also breeding. Its manners and notes were scarcely different from those of _J. oregonus_. It is, however, a shyer bird than the latter, and its song, which is only a simple trill, is rather louder than that of either the _hyemalis_ or the _oregonus_.

Dr. Coues writes me that both “the Gray-head and the Oregon Snowbirds are common species about Fort Whipple in winter, arriving about the middle of October, and remaining in numbers until early in April, when they thin off, although some may usually be observed during the month, and even a part of the next. _Oregonus_ far outnumbers _caniceps_. So far as I could see, their habits are precisely the same as those of the eastern Snowbird. During snow-storms they used to come familiarly about our quarters, and I once captured several of both species, enticing them into a tent in which some barley had been strewn, and having the flap fixed so that it could be pulled down with a string in a moment. They always associated together, and once, on firing into a flock, I picked up a number of each kind, and one _Junco hyemalis_. The latter can only be considered a straggler in this region, although I secured three specimens one winter.”

This species was very rare in Colorado, according to Mr. Aiken, in the winter of 1871-72, but became common in March, and a few remained up to the 3d of May. No females of this species were observed by him.

Mr. J. A. Allen mentions first meeting with this species at an elevation of seven thousand feet, and from that height it was common, on the slopes of Mount Lincoln, to the extreme limit of the timber line.

GENUS POOSPIZA, CABANIS.

_Poospiza_, CABANIS, Wiegmann’s Archiv, 1847, I, 349. (Type,
_Emberiza nigro-rufa_, D’ORB., or _Pipilo personata_, SW.)

GEN. CHAR. Bill slender, conical, both outlines gently curved. Under jaw with the edges considerably inflected; not so high as the upper. Tarsi elongated, slender; considerably longer than the middle toe. Toes short, weak; the outer decidedly longer than the inner, but not reaching to the base of the middle claw. Hind toe about equal to the middle without its claw. All the claws compressed and moderately curved. Wings rather long, reaching about over the basal fourth of the exposed portion of the rather long tail. Tertiaries and secondaries about equal, and not much shorter than the lengthened primaries; the second to fifth about equal and longest; the first considerably shorter, and longer than the seventh. Tail long, slightly emarginate, graduated; the outer feather abruptly shorter than the others. Feathers broad, linear, and rather obliquely truncate at the ends, with the corners rounded.

_Color._ Uniform above, without streaks. Beneath white, with or without a black throat. Black and white stripes on the head.

We are by no means sure that the two North American specimens here indicated really belong to the genus _Poospiza_, but we know no better position for them. They may be distinguished as follows:—

COMMON CHARACTERS. Lores and beneath the eye black, a white orbital ring, white spot above the lore (in _bilineata_ continued back in a superciliary stripe); a white maxillary stripe. Lateral tail-feathers, with outer web, and terminal border of inner, hoary or pure white.

A. Throat black in adult; sides not streaked.

_A continuous white superciliary stripe._

1. P. bilineata. Black patch of throat covering jugulum,
with a convex outline behind. Crown and back without streaks,
concolored. Wing-coverts without white bands; lesser coverts
ash. Wing, 2.75; tail, 2.85; bill, from nostril, .37; tarsus,
.65.

_No white superciliary stripe._

2. P. mystacalis. Black patch of throat not extending on
jugulum; its posterior outline truncated. Crown and back with
distinct black streaks. Back scapulars and rump rufous in
contrast with the ash of head and neck. Wing-coverts with two
narrow, sharply defined white bands; lesser coverts black.
Wing, 2.80; tail, 3.30; bill, .40; tarsus, .80. _Hab._
Mexico.

B. Throat white; sides streaked.

3. P. belli. No white superciliary stripe. A dusky spot in
middle of the breast. Upper parts ashy, concolored, with
indistinct streaks on the back. Wings somewhat more brownish,
the coverts with two indistinct light (not white) bands.

α. Wing, 2.50; tail, 2.50; bill, .31; tarsus, .74. Dorsal
streaks obsolete. _Hab._ California … var. _belli_.

β. Wing, 3.20; tail, 3.20; bill, .35; tarsus, .76. Dorsal
streaks distinct. _Hab._ Middle Province of United States …
var. _nevadensis_.

Poospiza bilineata, SCLATER.

BLACK-THROATED SPARROW.

_Emberiza bilineata_, CASSIN, Pr. A. N. Sc. Ph. V, Oct. 1850, 104,
pl. iii, Texas.—IB. Illust. I, v, 1854, 150, pl. xxiii. _Poospiza
bilineata_, SCLATER, Pr. Zoöl. Soc. 1857, 7.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am.
1858, 470.—IB. Mex. Bound. II, Birds, 15.—HEERM. X, c. 14.—COOPER,
Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 203.

[Line drawing: _Poospiza bilineata._
6316]

SP. CHAR. Above uniform unspotted ashy-gray, tinged with light brown; purer and more plumbeous anteriorly, and on sides of head and neck. Under parts white, tinged with plumbeous on the sides, and with yellowish-brown about the thighs. A sharply defined superciliary and maxillary stripe of pure white, as also the lower eyelid, the former margined internally with black. Loral region black, passing insensibly into dark slate on the ears. Chin and throat between the white maxillary stripes black, ending on the upper part of the breast in a rounded outline. Tail black, the lateral feathers edged externally and tipped on inner web with white. Bill blue. Length, 5.40; wing, 2.75; tail, 2.90. Sexes alike.

HAB. Middle Province of United States north to 40°, between Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevada. (As far west as Janos and the Mohave villages.) Matamoras (rare at San Antonio; DRESSER, Ibis, 1865, 488).

This species in external form is very similar to _P. belli_, and will probably fall in the same genus. The cutting edges of the bill are much inflexed. The first quill is shorter than the sixth. The tail is a good deal rounded; the feathers broad.

The white maxillary stripe does not come quite to the base of the under jaw, which there is black. There is a hoary tinge on the forehead. The white superciliary stripes almost meet on the forehead.

In the immature bird the throat is white with a dusky clouding along each side; the upper part of the breast streaked with brown.

HABITS. The Black-throated Sparrow, generically associated with Bell’s Finch, has several well-marked distinctive peculiarities in habits. Their eggs are also totally unlike those of the present species, being much more like those of the _Peucæa_ and of _Leucosticte griseinucha_, and, like them, white and unspotted.

This species was first described by Mr. Cassin from specimens obtained in Western Texas by John W. Audubon, and its habitat was at first supposed to be restricted to the valleys of the Rio Grande and the Gila, but more recent explorations show it to have a much wider distribution. It is found from Western Texas through part of Mexico, New Mexico, the Indian Territory, and Arizona, to Southern California, and towards the north throughout the region of the Great Basin to an extent not yet fully determined. In portions at least of this territory it is migratory, and only resident in the summer months.

Mr. Dresser found this Sparrow very abundant during July and August in the mesquite thickets in the town of Matamoras. In December it was equally common at Eagle Pass, but at San Antonio it was quite a rare bird. He only observed it on two or three occasions at a rancho on the Medina River, and late in June a nest and four eggs were obtained. Between Laredo and Matamoras, after crossing the Nueces, he found these birds very numerous, and near Laredo met with several nests, some containing young and some eggs nearly hatched. One taken on the 20th of July contained three fresh eggs, probably indicating a second laying. This nest was in a low bush, carefully concealed. It was composed of straws and lined with fine roots. The eggs, when fresh, were nearly white, with a delicate bluish tinge. On his journey down the river he found many nests, all empty or containing young. Some of these were partially lined with cotton. Though not wild, the birds were so restless that he found it difficult to shoot them. Dr. Woodhouse obtained one specimen on the Rio Pedro, in Texas.

In Mexico this Sparrow was found by Lieutenant Couch to be numerous in parts of Tamaulipas, Nueva Leon, Coahuila, and other States on the Rio Grande, immediately south and west of the limits of the territory of the United States. It was first seen at Santa Rosalio, and specimens obtained, though none were noticed at Brownsville, only twenty miles east, during a month’s residence. At Charco Escondido, forty miles farther in the interior, it was very plentiful, and although it was early in March, had already reared a brood of young, one specimen appearing to be a young bird only a few weeks old. Its favorite home appeared to be the scattered mesquite, on the plains east of the Sierra Madre. During the warm hours of the day it does not seek the shade, but may always be found chirping and hopping from one bush to another. South of Cadoreita the birds disappeared, but after a month’s loss of their company he again met with them among some flowering _Leguminosa_, between Pesquieria and Rinconada. He thus found it several times entirely absent from districts of considerable extent, but always reappearing again throughout his journey. The usual note of this bird, at the season in which he met with it, was a simple chirp; but on one occasion, having halted during a norther in Tamaulipas, he heard a “gay little black-throated fellow,” regardless of the bitter wind, from the top of a yellow mimosa then in bloom, give utterance to a strain of sprightly and sweet notes, that would compare favorably with those of many more famed songsters.

Dr. Coues found this Sparrow very abundant in the southern and western portions of Arizona, though rare at Fort Whipple, where the locality was unsuited to it, as it seemed to prefer open plains, grassy or covered with sagebrush.

Mr. J. H. Clarke, who met with these birds in Tamaulipas, Texas, and New Mexico, speaks of them as abundant and widely distributed. He found them on the lower Rio Grande, but more abundantly in the interior, seeming to prefer the stunted and sparse vegetation of the sand-hills and dry plains to the cottonwood groves and willow thickets of the river valleys, where they were never seen. They would be very inconspicuous did not the male occasionally perch himself on some topmost branch and pour forth a continuous strain of music. In the more barren regions they were the almost exclusive representatives of the feathered tribes.

Dr. Heermann first remarked this Finch near Tucson, in Arizona, where he found it associated with other Sparrows in large flocks. They were flying from bush to bush, alighting on the ground to pick up grass-seeds and insects. They were quite numerous, and he traced them as far into Texas as the Dead Man’s Hole, between El Paso and San Antonio.

Dr. Cooper found a few of these birds on the treeless and waterless mountains that border the Colorado Valley, in pairs or in small companies, hopping along the ground, under the scanty shrubbery. In crossing the Providence Range, in May, Dr. Cooper found their nest, containing white eggs.

Both species of _Poospiza_, the _belli_ and the _bilineata_, according to Mr. Ridgway, are entirely peculiar in their manners, habits, and notes. Both, he states, are birds characteristic of the arid artemisia plains of the Great Basin, and, with the _Eremophila cornuta_, are often the only birds met with on those desert wastes. The two species, he adds, are quite unlike in their habits and manners. They each have about the same extent of habitat, and even often frequent the same locality. While the _P. bilineata_ is partial to dry sandy situations, inhabiting generally the arid _mesa_ extending from the river valleys back to the mountains, the _P. belli_ is almost confined to the more thrifty growth of the artemisia, as found in the damper valley portions. The _P. belli_ is a resident species, and even through the severest winters is found in abundance. The _P. bilineata_ is exclusively a summer bird, one of the latest to come from the South, and much the more shy of the two; its manners also are quite different.

Both birds have one common characteristic, which renders them worthy of especial remark. This is the peculiar delivery and accent, and the strange sad tone of their spring song, which, though unassuming and simple, is indeed strange in the effect it produces. This song, so plaintive and mournful, harmonizes with the dull monotony of the desert landscape.

Mr. Ridgway states that the _P. bilineata_ is not so abundant as the other species, and is more retiring in its habits. It principally frequents the desert tracts and sandy wastes, on which are found only the most stunted forms of sage-brush. Its song, though quite simple, is exceedingly fine, its modulation being somewhat like _wut´-wut´-ze-e-e-e-e-e_, the first two syllables being uttered in a rich metallic tone, while the final trill is in a lower key, and of the most liquid and tremulous character imaginable. This simple chant is repeated every few seconds, the singer being perched upon a bush. He adds that this bird arrives on the Truckee Reservation about the 13th of May. The nest is built in sage-bushes, and the eggs are found from the 7th to the 21st of June. The nests are usually about one foot from the ground, or thereabouts.

The eggs vary in size from .70 by .55 of an inch to .75 by .60. They are of a rounded-oval shape, and of a pure white with a slight tinge of blue, somewhat resembling the eggs of the Bachman Finch.

Poospiza belli, SCLATER.

BELL’S SPARROW.

_Emberiza belli_, CASSIN, Pr. A. N. Sc. Phila. V, Oct. 1850, 104,
pl. iv (San Diego, Cal.). _Poospiza belli_, SCLATER, Pr. Zoöl.
Soc. 1857, 7.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 470.—HEERM. X, s. p. 46.
_Zonotrichia belli_, ELLIOT, Illust. Birds N. Am. I, pl.
xiv.—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 204.

SP. CHAR. Upper parts generally, with sides of head and neck, uniform bluish-ash, tinged with yellowish-gray on the crown and back, and with a few very obsolete dusky streaks on the interscapular region. Beneath pure white, tinged with yellowish-brown on the sides and under the tail. Eyelids, short streak from the bill to above the eye, and small median spot at the base of culmen, white. A stripe on the sides of the throat and spot on the upper part of the breast, with a few streaks on the sides, with the loral space and region round the eyes, plumbeous-black. Tail-feathers black; the outer edged with white. Wing-feathers all broadly edged with brownish-yellow; the elbow-joint tinged with yellowish-green. Bill and feet blue. Length, 5.70; wing, 2.80; tail, 2.90. (Largest specimen, 6,338 ♂, Cosumnes River).

HAB. Southern California.

The colors are softer and more blended in the autumn; the young are obsoletely streaked on the breast.

HABITS. Bell’s Finch has apparently a more restricted distribution than the Black-throated species, and is resident wherever found. It has been met with at Posa Creek, Cal., by Dr. Heermann, at Fort Thorn by Dr. T. C. Henry, and along the Colorado River by Drs. Kennerly and Möllhausen. It has likewise been found in Southern California, as far north as Sacramento Valley, and in the valley of the Gila.

Dr. Cooper states that all the extensive thickets throughout the southern half of California are the favorite resorts of this bird. There they apparently live upon small seeds and insects, indifferent as to water, or depending upon what they obtain from dews or fogs. They reside all the year in the same localities, and were also numerous on the island of San Nicolas, eighty miles from the mainland. In spring the males utter, as Dr. Cooper says, a low monotonous ditty, from the top of some favorite shrub, answering each other from long distances. Their nest he found about three feet from the ground, composed of grasses and slender weeds, lined with hair and other substances. The eggs, four in number, he describes as pale greenish, thickly sprinkled over with reddish-brown dots. At San Diego he found the young hatched out by May 18, but thinks they are sometimes earlier. It is also a common bird in the chaparral of Santa Clara Valley, and also, according to Dr. Heermann, along the Cosumnes River.

In Arizona, according to Dr. Coues, it is rather uncommon about Fort Whipple, owing to the unsuitable nature of the locality, but is abundant among the sage-brush of the Gila Valley, where it keeps much on the ground, and where its movements are very much like those of a _Pipilo_.

Drs. Kennerly and Möllhausen met with these Sparrows on the Little Colorado River, in California, December 15. They were found during that month along the banks of the river wherever the weeds and bushes were thick. It was never observed very far from the water, and its food, at that season, seemed to consist of the seeds of various kinds of weeds. Its motions were quick, and, when started up, its flight was short, rapid, and near the earth.

Dr. Heermann states that in the fall of 1851 he found this species in the mountains bordering the Cosumnes River, and afterwards on the broad tract of arid land between Kerr River and the Tejon Pass, and again on the desert between that and the Mohave River. He often found them wandering to a great distance from water. With only a few exceptions, these were the only birds inhabiting the desolate plains, where the artemisia is the almost exclusive vegetation. When undisturbed, it chants merrily from some bush-top, but, at the approach of danger, drops at once to the ground and disappears in the shrubbery or weeds. Its nest he found built in a bush, composed of twigs and grasses, and lined with hair. The eggs, four in number, he describes as of a light greenish-blue, marked with reddish-purple spots, differing in intensity of shade.

Poospiza belli, var. nevadensis, RIDGWAY.

ARTEMISIA SPARROW.

_Poospiza belli_, var. _nevadensis_, RIDGWAY, Report on Birds of
40th Parallel.

SP. CHAR. Resembling _P. belli_, but purer ashy above, with the dorsal streaks very distinct, instead of almost obsolete. Wing, 3.20 (instead of 2.50); tail, 3.20 (instead of 2.50); bill (from forehead), .35; tarsus, .76. (Type, No. 53,516 ♂, Western Humboldt Mountains, Nev., United States Geol. Expl. 40th Par.)

_Young._ Streaked above, the crown obsoletely, the back distinctly. Whole breast and sides with numerous short dusky streaks upon a white ground. Markings about the head indistinct, wing-bands more distinct than in the adult.

HAB. Middle Province of United States, north to beyond 40° (resident).

[Line drawing: _Poospiza belli_, var. _belli_.
11211]

The difference in size between the race of the Great Basin and that of the southern Pacific Province, of this species, is quite remarkable, being much greater than in any other instance within our knowledge. This may, perhaps, be explained by the fact that the former is not migratory, but resident even in the most northern part of its range; while the California one is also resident, and an inhabitant of only the southern portion of the coast region, not reaching nearly so far north as the race of the interior.

The coloration of the two races is quite identical, though in all specimens of var. _belli_ the dorsal streaks are obsolete, sometimes even apparently wanting, while in the var. _nevadensis_ they are always conspicuous. The former appears to be more brownish above than the latter.

HABITS. These birds, Mr. Ridgway states, have a very general distribution, extending as far west as the eastern base of the Sierra Nevada. At Carson City, February 27, he heard for the first time their sweet sad chant. A week later he found the sage-brush full of these birds, the males being in full song and answering one another from all directions. In walking through the sage-brush these Sparrows were seen on every side, some running upon the ground with their tails elevated, uttering a chipping twitter, as they sought to conceal themselves behind the shrubs. Some were seen to alight upon the tops of dead stalks, where they sit with their tails expanded almost precisely after the manner of the Kingbird. The song of this bird is feeble, but is unsurpassed for sweetness and sadness of tone. While its effect is very like the song of a Meadow Lark singing afar off, there is, besides its peculiar sadness, something quite unique in its modulation and delivery. It is a chant, in style somewhat like the spring warbling of the Shore Lark.

On the 24th of March, at Carson City, he found these Sparrows very abundant and everywhere the predominating species, as it was also the most unsuspicious and familiar. It was even difficult to keep them from under the feet. A pair would often run before him for a distance of several rods with their unexpanded tails elevated, and when too nearly approached would only dodge in among the bushes instead of flying off.

On the 9th of April, walking among the sage-brush near Carson City, Mr. Ridgway found several nests of this Sparrow, the female parent in each instance betraying the position of her nest by running out, as he approached, from the bush beneath which it was concealed. With elevated tail, running rapidly and silently away, they disappeared among the shrubbery. In such cases a careful examination of the spot was sure to result in finding an artfully concealed nest, either embedded in the ground or a few inches above it in the lower branches of the bush. He did not find this species east of the northern end of Great Salt Lake, nor was it seen in the neighborhood of Salt Lake City, where the other species was so abundant.

The eggs of this species differ very essentially from those of the _P. bilineata_. They are oblong in shape, have a light greenish ground, marked all over the egg with very fine dots of a reddish-brown, and around the larger end with a ring of confluent blotches of dark purple and lines of a darker brown, almost black. They measure .80 by .60 of an inch. They resemble very closely a not uncommon variety of the eggs of the _Spizella pusilla_.

Footnotes:

[1] We are indebted to Professor Theodore N. Gill for the present account of the characteristics of the class of Birds as distinguished from other vertebrates, pages XI-XV.

[2] Dr. Coues, in his “Key to North American Birds,” gives an able and extended article on the general characteristics of birds, and on their internal and external anatomy, to which we refer our readers. A paper by Professor E. S. Morse in the “Annals of the New York Lyceum of Natural History” (X, 1869), “On the Carpus and Tarsus of Birds,” is of much scientific value.

[3] Carus and Gerstaecker (Handbuch der Zoologie, 1868, 191) present the following definition of birds as a class:—

Aves. Skin covered wholly or in part with feathers. Anterior pair of limbs, converted into wings, generally used in flight; sometimes rudimentary. Occiput with a single condyle. Jaws encased in horny sheaths, which form a bill; lower jaw of several elements and articulated behind with a distinct quadrate bone attached to the skull. Heart with double auricle and double ventricle. Air-spaces connected to a greater or less extent with the lungs; the skeleton more or less pneumatic. Diaphragm incomplete. Pelvis generally open. Reproduction by eggs, fertilized within the body, and hatched externally, either by incubation or by solar heat; the shells calcareous and hard.

[4] _Methodi naturalis avium disponendarum tentamen._ Stockholm, 1872-73.

[5] This group is insusceptible of definition. The wading birds, as usually allocated, do not possess in common one single character not also to be found in other groups, nor is the collocation of their characters peculiar.

[6] Corresponding closely with the Linnæan and earlier Sundevallian acceptation of the term. Equivalent to the later _Oscines_ of Sundevall.

[7] As remarked by Sundevall, exceptions to the diagnostic pertinence of these two characters of hind claw and wing-coverts taken together are scarcely found. For, in those non-passerine birds, as _Raptores_ and some _Herodiones_, in which the claw is enlarged, the wing-coverts are otherwise disposed; and similarly when, as in many _Pici_ and elsewhere, the coverts are of a passerine character, the feet are highly diverse.

[8] _Laminiplantares_ of Sundevall plus _Alaudidæ_.

[9] _Scutelliplantares_ of Sundevall minus _Alaudidæ_.

[10] Nearly equivalent to the Linnæan _Picæ_. Equal to the late (1873) _Volucres_ of Sundevall.

[11] A polymorphic group, perfectly distinguished from _Passeres_ by the above characters in which, for the most part, it approximates to one or another of the following lower groups, from which, severally, it is distinguished by the inapplicability of the characters noted beyond. My divisions of _Picariæ_ correspond respectively to the _Cypselomorphæ_, _Coccygomorphæ_, and _Celeomorphæ_ of Huxley, from whom many of the characters are borrowed.

[12] Groups G., H., and I. are respectively equal to the _Charadriomorphæ_, _Pelargomorphæ_, and _Geranomorphæ_ of Huxley.

[13] In the true conirostral or fringilliform genera the under mandible has high strong tomia, bent at an angle near the base; the corresponding portion of the upper mandible is deep, so that the nostrils are nearer the culmen than the tomia. The whole bill is more or less bent in its axis from the axis of the cranial base, so that the palate curves down, or is excavated or, as it were, is broken into two planes meeting at an angle,—one plane the anterior hard imperforate roof of the mouth, the other the back palate where the internal nares are situate (Sundevall). The single North American genus of _Tanagridæ_ (_Pyranga_) is here conventionally ranged on account of its high nostrils and conic bill, although it does not show angulation of the tomia. The _Icteridæ_, with obviously angulated tomia, shade into the _Fringillidæ_ in shortness and thickness of bill, and into other families in its length and slenderness.

[14] These two genera, _Psilorhinus_ and _Gymnokitta_, of the family _Corvidæ_, have naked nostrils, as under _dd_, but otherwise show the characters of _Corvidæ_.

[15] With the _Paridæ_ the authors of this work include the Nuthatches as a subfamily _Sittinæ_, which I prefer to dissociate and place as a group of equal grade next to _Certhiidæ_.

[16] In the genus _Ampelis_ and part of the _Vireonidæ_ it is so extremely short as to appear absent, and is displaced, lying concealed outside the second (apparently first) primary, like one of the primary coverts; however, it may always be detected on close examination, differing from the coverts with which it is associated in some points of size and shape, if not also of color.

[17] In _Ampelis_ there is tendency to subdivision of the lateral plates; in _Myiadestes_ the anterior scutella are obsolete.

[18] Excepting _Picoides_, in which the true hind toe (hallux) is wanting; the outer or fourth toe being, however, reversed as usual, and taking the place of the hind toe.

[19] Excepting _Sphyrapicus_, in which the tongue is not more protrusible than in ordinary birds.

[20] Our species falls rather in a restricted family _Aridæ_, as distinguished from _Psittacidæ_ proper.

[21] In a perfectly fresh specimen of _Turdus mustelinus_, the basal half of the first phalanx of the inner toe is connected with the first joint of the middle toe by a membrane which stretches across to within two fifths of the end of the latter; there appears, however, to be no ligamentous adhesion. The basal joint of the outer toe is entirely adherent, and a membrane extends from nearly the basal half of the second joint to the distal end of the first joint of the middle toe. When this connecting membrane becomes dried the division of the toes appears considerably greater.

When the toes are all extended in line with the tarsus, the hind claw stretches a little beyond the lateral and scarcely reaches the base of the middle claw.

The plates at the upper surface of the basal joints of the toes are quadrangular and opposite each other.

[22] See Baird, Review American Birds, I, 1864, 7, 8.

[23] _Harporhynchus ocellatus_, SCLATER, P. Z. S. 1862, p. 18, pl. iii.

[24] _C. ardesiacus_, SALVIN, Ibis, N. S. III, 121, pl. ii.

[25] _C. pallasi_, TEMM. Man. d’Orn. I, p. 177.—SALVIN, Ibis, III, 1867, 119. (_Sturnus cinclus_, var. PALLAS, Zoögr. R.-As. I, 426.)

[26] _S. azurea_, BAIRD, Rev. Am. Birds, 1864, 62. (_S. azurea_, SWAINSON.)

[27] _Parus meridionalis_, SCLATER, P. Z. S. 1856, 293.—BAIRD, Rev. 81.

[28] _Parus sibiricus_, GMEL. S. N. 1788, p. 1013.

[29] This remark applies to the Mexican race.

[30] _N. rufa_, BAIRD. (_Alauda rufa_, GMELIN, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 798.)

[31] _P. bogotensis_, BAIRD. (_Anthus bogotensis_, SCLATER, P. Z. S. 1855, 109, pl. ci.)

[32] _Anthus (Notiocorys) rufus_, BAIRD, Rev. Am. Birds, 1864, 156 (_Alauda rufa_, GM.). _Hab._ Isthmus of Panama.

[33] _Anthus (Pediocorys) bogotensis_, BAIRD, Rev. Am. Birds, 1864, 157 (_Anthus bogotensis_, SCLATER). _Hab._ Ecuador, Colombia.

[34] _Sylvia pitiayumi_, VIEILL. Nouv. Dict. II, 1816, 276. _Parula pit._ SCLAT. Catal. 26, no. 165.—BAIRD, Rev. Am. Birds, I, 1865, 170.

[35] _Parula insularis_, LAWR. Ann. N. Y. Lyc. X, Feb. 1871.

[36] _Parula inornata_, BAIRD, Rev. Am. Birds, I, 1865, 171.

[37] Or if with white markings, the prevailing color yellow, as in _D. pinus_, in which only the adult ♂ has the wing-bands ashy-white.

[38] The wing-formula, though varying among individuals, is nevertheless in a measure characteristic. An average specimen is in each case chosen.

[39] _D. gundlachi_, BAIRD, Review Am. B. I, 1865, 197.

[40] _Dendroica petechia_, BAIRD, Review, 199. (_Motacilla petechia_, LINN. 1766.)

A specimen from Port au Prince is smaller, measuring, wing, 2.50; tail, 2.10; bill, .31; tarsus, .74. It is perhaps lighter green above than Jamaican specimens. These features may only be characteristic of the particular individual.

[41] _D. ruficapilla_, BAIRD, Rev. 201.

A single specimen from Porto Rico differs in some respects from the average of a series from the other islands named. The chief differences are, less thickly streaked throat, and distinct shaft-streaks of dark chestnut on the back. However, one or two specimens of true _ruficapilla_ from St. Thomas have the upper part of the throat streaked, and one of them has the streaks on the back. In all probability other specimens from Porto Rico would be more like typical species of this race as seen in the majority of those from St. Thomas and St. Bartholomew.

[42] _D. aureola_, BAIRD, Rev. 194. (_Sylvicola a._ GOULD, Voyage Beagle, 1841, 86.)

[43] _D. capitalis_, LAWR. Pr. Phila. Acad. 1868, 359. Barbadoes. _Dendroica_, BAIRD, Rev. 201.

[44] _D. vieilloti_, CASSIN, Pr. A. N. S. May, 1860, 192. (Panama, Carthagena.)—BAIRD, Rev. 203.

[45] _D. rufigula_, BAIRD, Rev. p. 204. The habitat as Martinique, W. I., was there queried, but without any reason for so doing other than that this was the locality of Vieillot’s species, with which the type described in Review nearly agreed. Should _Vieillot’s_ species be really from Martinique, in all probability the present bird will be found to be different, and therefore not entitled to the name here given. Provided such is the case, the name “_ruficeps_,” Cabanis, cannot with propriety be used, as under that head he includes specimens from Carthagena (true _vieilloti_), Costa Rica, and Mexico (the latter _bryanti_).

[46] _D. vieilloti_, var. _bryanti_, RIDGWAY.

[47] _Sylvicola eoa_, GOSSE, Birds of Jamaica, 1847, 158; Illustrations Birds Jam. _Dendroica eoa_, BAIRD, Rev. 195. The true position of this species is very uncertain, owing to the imperfect description, or rather the incomplete plumage, of the types. There is no doubt, however, that it is entirely different from any other, and in its having, as expressly stated, the inner webs yellow, thus bringing it into close relation with the “Golden Warblers.”

[48] _D. pharetra_, BAIRD, Rev. 192. (_Sylvicola pharetra_, GOSSE, Birds Jam. 1847, 163.)

[49] _D. adelaidæ_, BAIRD, Rev. April, 1865, 212.

[50] _D. pityophila_, BAIRD, Rev. 208. (_Sylvicola p._ GUNDL. Ann. N. Y. Lyc. Oct. 1855, 160.)

[51] _Dendroica adelaidæ_, BAIRD, Rev. 1865, 212. _Hab._ Porto Rico.

[52] _Geothlypis rostratus_, BRYANT, Pr. Bost. Soc. N. H. March, 1867, 67, Inagua.

[53] _Geothlypis melanops_, BAIRD, Review Am. Birds, I, April, 1865, p. 222.

[54] _Geothlypis æquinoctialis_ (CABANIS), BAIRD, Rev. I, p. 224. (_Motacilla æq._ GMELIN, S. N. I, 1788, 972.)

[55] _Geothlypis velata_ (CABANIS), BAIRD, Rev. I, 223. (_Sylvia vel._ VIEILL. Ois. Am. Sept. II, 1807, 22, pl. lxxiv.)

[56] _Geothlypis poliocephala_, BAIRD, Review Am. Birds, I, April, 1865, p. 225.

[57] _Geothlypis poliocephala_, var. _caninucha_, RIDGWAY.

The _G. speciosa_, SCL. (P. Z. 1858, 447; and BAIRD, Rev. 1864, p. 223), from Mexico, and _G. semiflavus_, SCL. (P. Z. S. 1860, 273, 291.—BAIRD, Rev. I, 1864, 223), from Ecuador, are species allied to _G. trichas_, and possibly referable to it. The original descriptions afford no tangible distinctive characters. It is barely possible, however, that they are distinct.

[58] _Granatellus_, DUBUS. BAIRD, Rev. Am. Birds, 1865, 230. (Type, _G. venustus_, DUBUS.)

[59] Genera _Myioborus_, _Euthlypis_, _Myiothlypis_, _Basileuterus_, _Idiotes_, and _Ergaticus_. All Middle and South America.

[60] _Setophaga picta_ (SWAINSON), BAIRD, Rev. 1865, 256. _Muscicapa leucomus_, GIRAUD, Texas Birds. _Hab._ Mexico and Guatemala.

[61] _Setophaga miniata_ (SWAINSON), BAIRD, Rev. 1865, 256. _Muscicapa derhami_, GIRAUD, Texas Birds. _Hab._ Mexico.

[62] _Hirundo_ (_Callichelidon_) _cyaneoviridis_ (BRYANT), BAIRD, Rev. Am. Birds, 1865, 303. Bahamas. This species may yet be detected on the Florida coast.

[63] _Progne subis_, var. _concolor_. _Hirundo concolor_, GOULD, P. Z. S. 1837, 22 (James I., Galapagos). _Progne c._ BAIRD, Rev. Am. B. 1865, 278. _Progne modesta_, GOULD, Birds Beagle, 39, pl. v. (Same specimen.)

[64] _Progne subis_, var. _furcata_. _Progne furcata_, BAIRD, Rev. Am. B. 1865, 278. (Chile.)

[65] _Progne subis_, var. _elegans_. _Progne elegans_, BAIRD, Rev. Am. B. 1865, 275. (Vermejo River. _? Progne purpurea_, DARWIN, B. Beagle 38 (Montevideo, November), Bahia Blanca, Buenos Ayres, September.)