SPIZA,.—CALAMOSPIZA. ALT 
This bird is a winter visitant to Mexico and Central America, occurring at many points 
in the former country, even as far westwards as Mazatlan, where, however, Grayson tells 
us it is rare, only two specimens having been procured by him, which were shot in the 
month of August }*, In Guatemala we but seldom met with it, and only in localities 
lying near the coast of the Pacific ocean or on the mountains sloping in that direction. 
But on the coast of Yucatan and thence to Honduras, especially on the islands from 
Cape Catoche to Ruatan, it would appear to be very abundant, Mr. Gaumer having 
recently sent us specimens from all the islands he visited during a voyage from Yucatan 
to Ruatan. Being thus common on this coast, it is somewhat strange that it has not 
been recorded from Cuba, Dr. Gundlach being silent as to its presence there. 
S. americana frequents grassy places, and its notes are described as unmusical. The 
nest is said by some observers to be placed a little above the ground in a bush of some 
sort, others say that it is placed on the ground; it is formed of coarse grasses and 
stems, and lined with similar finer materials. The eggs are of a uniform light blue 
colour. 
CALAMOSPIZA. 
Calamospiza, Bonaparte, Comp. List, p. 830 (1838) ; Baird, Brew., & Ridgw. N. Am. B. ii. p. 60; 
Coues, Key N. Am. B. ed. 2, p. 386. 
A monotypic genus containing the single species C. dzcolor, an inhabitant of the more 
arid portions of Central North America and similar places in Northern and Central 
Mexico. 
Calamospiza is usually placed next Spiza, to which, doubtless, it has a remote rela- 
tionship, but the peculiar black colouring of the male and the great diversity of the 
sexes, the gregarious habits of the bird, and some structural characters all point to its 
isolation. 
The bill is stout, the culmen turgid towards its base, the nostrils being deeply sunk 
in the nasal fossa; the tomia is angulated and rather deeply constricted beyond the 
angle, between which and the constriction is a denticular process; the rictal bristles 
are strong. The wing is long and pointed, the first to the fourth quills being the 
longest; the secondaries are long, and reach almost to the wing-tip. The feet are 
stout, the middle toe and tarsus being subequal. The hind claw is short and not 
straightened. 
1. Calamospiza bicolor. 
Fringilla bicolor, Towns. Journ. Ac. Phil. vii. p. 189'. 
Calamospiza bicolor, Baird, Mex. Bound. Surv. ii., Birds, p. 16*; Dresser, Ibis, 1865, p. 490°; 
Dugés, La Nat. i. p. 140‘; Baird, Brew., & Ridgw. N. Am. B. ii. p. 61°; Sennett, Bull. 
U.S. Geol. Surv. v. p. 391°; Belding, Pr. U.S. Nat. Mus. vi. p. 343%. 
Calamospiza melanocorys, Stejn. Auk, ii. p. 49°; Check-List N. A. B. p. 290°. 
Nigra; secundariis extus et tectricibus alarum intermediis albis, caude rectricibus duabus externis albo in 
BIOL. CENTR.-AMER., Aves, Vol. I., November 1886. 53 
