FRTXPrTLLTD-K — THE FINCHES. 



523 



that part of tlu; (•(luiitiy, tlimi^Ii they may liave been niistakeu for other 

 species. 



Dr. (.'ones nieutions tlie takiiii;' of a single specimen of thi.s species, Octo- 

 ber 17, on the open grassy plains of Arizona. 



This sjjecies is also given by ]\Ir. Suniichrast as a resident throughout the 

 year of the great plains of the plateau of Mexico. From them it occasion- 

 ally descends to the distant intervals, as far as Orizaba, or at the elevation, 

 above the gulf-level, of 1,'220 metres. 



6282 S 



Pltctrophiincs maccoxi'Hii. Lawi* 



Plectrophanes maccowni, Lawrence. 



CHESTNUT-SHOULDERED LONGSPUE ; MACCOWN'S BUNTING. 



Hectrujiluinci inaccmnii, Lawrence, Ann. N. Y. Lye. V, Sept. 1S51, 122. Western Te.xas. 

 — C'.\.ssiN, lUust. I, viii, 1S55, 228, pi. .\.\.xix. — Heek.m. X, c, [i. 13. — Baird, Birds 

 N. Am. 1858, 437. 



Sp. Cn.\R. Male in spring. Top of head, a tiroad .stripe each side the throat from 

 lower mandible, and a broad cre,scent on jugiilura, 

 black ; side of head including lores and band above 

 the eye, throat, and under parts, ashy-white ; ear- 

 coverts bordered above and behind by blackish, I'un- 

 ning out at the rna.xillary stripe. Breast just behind the 

 black crescent and sides, showing dark bases of feath- 

 ers. Upper parts ashy, tinged with yellowish on the 

 mandible, and streaked with dusky ; least so on nape 

 and rump. Lesser wing-coverts ashy ; median chest- 

 nut-brown, witli tilackish bases sometimes evident; 

 the quills all bordered broadly externally with whitish, becoming more ashy on secondaries. 

 Tail-feathers wliite e.xcept at the concealed bases and the ends, which have a transverse 

 (not oblique) tip of blackish; the outermost white to the end ; the two central like the 

 back. Bill dark plumbeous ; legs blackish. In winter tlic markings more or less 

 obscured ; the bill and legs more yellowish. 



Female lacks the black markings, which, however, are indicated obsoletely as in other 

 Plectrophanes ; there is no trace of chestnut on the wings, no streaks on the breast. 

 Length, 5..50 ; wing, 3.60 ; tail, 2..50 ; bill, .40. 



Hab. Eastern slopes of Rocky Mountains, from Te.xas to Upper Jlissouri. 



This species varies considerably in markings, but is readily recognized 

 among other Plectrophanes in all stages Ijy .short hind toe, very stout bill, 

 and the transverse dark bar at the end of all tail-feathers e.xcept the inner 

 and outer. 



Habits. JMaccowu's Lark Bunting is yet another of the various species 

 of our birds whose history is very little known, and in regard to which the 

 most we are able to state, at present, is that they appear in different parts 

 of the interior plains of the United States, between the Rocky Mountains 

 and the Missouri River and the lower tributaries of the Mississippi, 

 extending from New Mexico and Texas northward, during tlie breeding- 



^^s. 



/ 



