250 BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



GENUS AMMODRAMUS SWAINSON. 

 SUBGENUS Ammodramus. 



Ammodramus SWAINSON, Zool. Jour, iii, 1827, 348. Type, Oriolus catirJaciifiis 



"GEN. CHAR. Bill very long, slender, and attenuated, considerably curved towards 

 the tip above. The gonys straight. A decided lobe in middle of cutting edge of upper 

 bill. The legs and toes are very long arid reach considerably beyond the tip of the short 

 tail. The tarsus is about equal to the elongated middle toe; the lateral toes equal, their 

 elaws falling considerably short of the base of the middle one; the hind claw equal to 

 the lateral one. Wings short, reaching only to the base of the tail; much rounded; the 

 secondaries and tertials equal, and not much shorter than the primaries. The tail is 

 rather shorter than the wings, and graduated laterally; each feather stiffened, lanceolate, 

 and acute. 



"Color. Streaked above and across the breast; very faintly on the sides. 



"The essential characters consist in the slender and elongated 

 bill ; the long legs reaching considerably beyond the tail, with the 

 lateral claws falling considerably short of the middle one ; and the 

 very short rounded wings, rather longer than the cuneate tail, with 

 its stiffened and lanceolate feathers." (Hist. N. Am. B.} 



Only one of the three known species of this genus has been taken 

 in Illinois. In view, however, of the possible occurrence of a second 

 (A. maritimus), its characters, together with those of the other, are 

 given in the following synopsis : 



COMMON CHABACTEES. Above olivaceous or ashy, the crown washed with brown 

 laterally, the dorsal feathers darker centrally; beneath white, tinged across the jugulum 

 with ochraceous or ashy; jugulam streaked; a dusky "bridle" on each side of the throat, 

 . above it a malar stripe of ochraceous or white. 



1. A. caudacutus. A</ult: Above mixed olive, gray, and brown; the outer webs of 

 back feathers edged with olivish gray or whitish, and often with darker streaks ; 

 crown usually with a brown suffusion, and streaked with black laterally. Super- 

 ciliary stripe, maxillary stripe, ami whole jugulum, ochraeeous, the latter more or 

 less streaked; abdomen unstreaked white; edge of wing light yellow. Young: 

 Above fulvous brown and ochraceous, streaked with black; crown mostly black, 

 with a median stripe of fulvous streaks. Beneath entirely ochraceous, the sides of 

 the iugulum streaked. 

 a. caudacutus. Wing, 2.20-2.40; tail, 2.15-2.40; bill, .30-.35. Atlantic seacoast, from 



Florida to Maine. 



fi. ne'ixoiii. Wing, 2.10; tail, 2.05; bill, .30. Bill more slender; colors much deeper, 

 and markings much better defined. Fresh water marshes of United States, 

 liielly in Mississippi Valley. 



'!. A. maritimus. Above olivaceous gray, with ashy gloss on the back; beneath gray- 

 ish white, very indistinctly streaked on the jugulum and sides of breast with 

 grayish; edge of wing, and supraloral stripo gamboge-yellow. Wing, 2.30-2.ti">: 

 tail, 2.35-2. 65. 



