376 FRINGILLIDA. 
C. strigatus has a very extensive range, embracing a large portion of the United States, 
from the western Canadian frontier southwards; thence it passes into Mexico and onwards 
to Guatemala, whence we have a single specimen, shot 22nd October, 1873, on the 
slopes of the mountain range between the volcanoes of Agua and Fuego, at an eleva- 
tion of about 4000 feet above the sea. 
Though this species breeds in Texas we have no evidence that it is otherwise than 
a migratory bird in Mexico, and as such it is included by Sumichrast amongst the birds 
of Vera Cruz’. Grayson, moreover, states that it arrives in September, and departs in 
April 1°, 
The song of the male is spoken of in high praise by American writers ®. The nest 
of C. grammaca is a shallow structure placed on the ground, and composed entirely 
of grasses, sedges, &c. ‘The eggs are usually greyish white, sometimes light brown, 
marbled and streaked with waving lines of black or blackish brown 8. 
SPIZELLA. 
Spizella, Bonaparte, Saggio di una Distr. Met. An. Vert. p. 140 (Aggiunte, 1832) (type Fringilla 
pusilla, Wils.) ; Baird, Brew. & Ridgw. N. Am. B. ii. p.1; Coues, Key N. Am. Birds, 
ed. 2, p. 379. 
This genus contains six or seven more or less distinct northern species, none of which 
are found beyond the limits of Guatemala, where a close ally of the well-known 
S. soctalis alone is found. Four other species occur in Mexico: of these J. socialis 
and WS. atrigularis are said to be residents; S. pallida and its close western ally 8. 
brewert are probably migrants spending the winter season in Mexico. 
Two other northern species, S. monticola and S. pusilla, have not yet been noticed 
within our borders, nor have we any tidings of S. wortheni, recently described by Mr. 
Ridgway. 
The species of this genus are of small size, measuring in total length 5 to 6 inches, 
the tail is long and slightly forked, the wings rather pointed. The middle of the back 
is streaked, and the under parts plain in the adult, but streaked in the young in first 
plumage; the bill is small and conical; the tarsus is about equal to the middle toe 
and claw, the lateral toes being subequal. 
Spizella is so closely related to Zonotrichia, Poospiza, Junco, and Chondestes, that its 
definition is not easily expressed. It may be recognized by its long wings and tail, the 
latter being decidedly forked, and without white on the lateral feathers; the under 
plumage is plain without streaks, the middle back on the contrary being striped. 
These characters taken together are not found in any of the above-mentioned genera. 
The bill is constructed very like that of many of the Old World Buntings to which 
section of the Fringillide Spizella doubtless belongs. 
