BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 317 



line of the breast are obsolete; the maxillary streaks have 

 disappeared, and the back part of the median line of the 

 crown begins to show white. 



' 'Here our evidence of the further changes ceases for want of 

 specimens. There is still much difference between number 3, 

 and the adult. In the former the characteristic chestnut and 

 grayish collar has not appeared; the handsome white and 

 chestnut markings of the back are wanting; the color and 

 markings of the under parts are unsettled; the bill is light, 

 instead of dark bluish-brown, and the whole general coloration 

 is uncertain, and blended, very different from the bold, strik- 

 ing pattern of the adult. From these specimens we are there- 

 fore to draw the conclusion that in the young bird, distinct 

 maxillary streaks are present, the breast is streaked thickly 

 entirely across; the tail feathers though pointed, are not nar- 

 row and acuminate as in the adult; that yellow is the ground- 

 color of the entire plumage, tail and wings excepted, and lastly, 

 that these characters gradually pass with age, into those 

 of the adult." 



The interest of ornithologists in this bird justifies the space 

 we have given for the foregoing notes. They were penned 

 only a comparatively short time after the rediscovery of the 

 species, which was originally observed and named by Audubon, 

 but for a long time lost. That this bunting breeds considerably 

 in favorable localities, in a large part of the State, I have no 

 doubt, as it has of late years come to be observed in the breed- 

 ing season in Freeborn, Big Stone and Grant counties. I have 

 never seen the nest or eggs, but my very reliable friend Lewis, 

 who has explored northern Dakota, gives the former as essen- 

 tially like that of the Yellow-winged Sparrow, but possibly con- 

 structed of a little coarser grasses, and a little bulkier in its 

 general appearance. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 



"Bill much more slender than in Emberiza hensloivi. First 

 quill the longest, the rest diminishing rapidly. Tail emarginate 

 and rounded, with the feathers acute. Upper parts light yel- 

 lowish-red, streaked with brownish-black; the margins of the 

 feathers and scapulars pale yellowish-white; tail feathers 

 dusky, margined with light-yellowish; lower parts with the 

 cheeks, and a broad band over the eyes, fine buff; median line 

 yellowish- white; the buff extending to the femorals and along 

 the sides, streaked with brownish-black. Throat, neck, and 

 upper parts of the breast without streaks, and plain buff." 



Length, 4.40; wing, 2.13; tail, 1.90. 



Habitat, Plains eastward to Illinois, South Carolina, and 

 Florida, and from Manitoba to Texas. 



