191 LAND-BIRDS AND GAME-BIRDS 



ground. " The eggs," sa3's Dr. Brewer, " five or six in number, 

 somewhat resemble those of the C. j^cisserinus. Their ground- 

 color is a clear bright white, and they are spotted with well- 

 defined reddish-brown markings and more subdued tints of 

 purple. The markings, so far as I have seen their eggs, are 

 finer and fewer than those of C. passerinus, and are distriljuted 

 more exclusively around the larger end. The eggs measure 

 •78X"G0 of an inch, and are of a more oblong oval than those 

 of the common Yellow-wing." 



(c). The Henslow's Buntings are very rare in Massachu- 

 setts, though said by Mr. Maynard^i to seem "more common 

 at some localities in the State than" their immediate relations, 

 the Yellow-winged Sparrows. Like these latter birds they fre- 

 quent fields (and chiefly, so far as my observations prove, those 

 which are dr}^ or sandj'), and are always on or near the ground. 

 Thej' feed on seeds and insects, and easily secure the smaller 

 beetles, etc., from the facility -with which 4;hey run and make 

 their way among the weeds and grass. Mr. Maynard*^- has 

 recorded that he "took two males in a wet meadow on May 

 10, 18G7," whose " song-note" was " like the syllables 'see-icicA;,' 

 with the first prolongedly and the second quickly given." I 

 have seen the Henslow's Sparrows here only in May and the 

 warmer part of summer ; but, though Massachusetts is consid- 

 ered as their northern limit, I have suspicions, upon which I 

 shall not here enlarge, that they occur in at least one spot 

 among the White Mountains. I ma}^ add that this species was 

 at first recorded in this State as Bachman's Finch (Peuccea 

 cestivalis), an error afterwards corrected. 



(cl). Mr, Ridgway, as quoted by Dr. Brewer, speaks of 

 "the tail being depressed, and the head thrown back at each 

 utterance" of their notes. 



"lAs quoted by Mr. Allen in his "Notes on Some of tlie Rarer Birds of Mas- 

 sachusetts." 



»2ln liis "Naturalist's Guide," p. 117. 



