OF NEW ENGLAND. 189 



rocks, and are not naturally shy. They occur in Massachu- 

 setts as rare winter-visitors only, and as occasional stragglers 

 in large flocks of Snow Buntings or Shore Larks, though, says 

 Mr. Maynard, "common on the Ipswich Sand-hills." They 

 frequent almost exclusively the coast or the lands near it, 

 feeding on seeds and small shell-fish. They run nimbly, fly 

 swiftl}'', and chiefly affect the ground, but occasionally perch 

 in trees. 



(cZ). They have a shrill cliirr, and a rather melancholy call 

 of two syllables. Their song is said to be simple but sweet, 

 with their call-notes often introduced. 



VIII. CHONDESTES 



(A) GRAMMACA.. LcirTc FlncJi. 



(An inhabitant of the western United States, one, however, 

 being "taken in Gloucester, in 1845, by S. Jillson."^^) 



(a). About 61 inches long. "Crown chestnut blackening 

 on forehead, divided b}^ a median stripe, and bounded by 

 superciliary stripes, of white ; a black line through eye, 

 and another below eye, enclosing a white streak under the eye 

 and the chestnut auriculars ; next, a sharp black maxillary 

 stripe not quite reaching the bill, cutting oflT a white stripe 

 from the white chin and throat. A black blotch on middle of 

 breast. Und^r parts white, faintly shaded with grayish-brown ; 

 upper parts grayish-brown, the middle of the back with fine 

 black streaks. Tail very long, its central feathers like the 

 back, the rest jet-black, broadly tipped with pure white in 

 diminishing amount from the lateral pair inward, and the outer 

 web of the outer pair entirely white." (Dr. Coues.) 



(&). The nest of these birds is most often built upon the 

 ground. "The maximum number of their eggs" says Dr. 

 Brewer "is five. Their average measurement is -85 by '65 of 

 an inch. The ground-color is usually a graj'ish-white, rarely 

 a light brown, marbled and streaked with waving lines, and a 

 few dots of black or a blackish-brown." 



B9 Maynard, Naturalist's Guide, p. 112. Gloucester is on tlie coast of Massachu- 

 setts, north of Boston. , 



