FINCHES. 197 



a. About six inches long. Tail-feathers, narrow and 

 pointed, as also in caudacittus. Superciliary line f j om bill to 

 eye, and edge of the wing, yellow. Upper parts, and side- 

 shading below, brown or gray, olive-tinted, the former more or 

 less streaked. Under parts, white ; breast, tinted with brown, 

 and faintly or obsoletely streaked. Wings and tail, plain, 

 scarcely marked. Side-markings on the head, vague. 



h. " The nest is usually placed in a tussock of grass, in 

 the fresh- water marshes, or on the sea-shore beyond the reach 

 of high tide." The eggs measure about .80X.57 of an inch, 

 and are white, gray-tinged, thickly, finely, and most often 

 evenly marked with brown, which is sometimes confluent or 

 predominant at the crown. 



c. I regret that I know nothing of the habits of the Sea- 

 side Finches, and that I cannot add to what has appeared in the 

 various meagre accounts of these birds already published. Dr. 

 Coues considered this species abundant on the coast of New 

 Hampshire, but '' Mr. Brewster .... has looked for it in 

 vain at Rye Beach." Mr. Maynard doubts the occurrence of 

 these birds on the coast of Massachusetts, but, says Mr. Allen, 

 in his " Notes on the Rarer Birds of Massachusetts," " they 

 were formerly known to breed in the Chelsea marshes, and 

 probably do still." Wilson speaks of the Sea-side Finch as 

 "keeping almost continually within the boundaries of tide- 

 water," and adds that " amidst the recesses of these wet sea 

 marshes it seeks the rankest growth of grass and sea-weed, 

 and climbs along the stalks of the rushes with as much dex- 

 terity as it runs along the ground, which is rather a singular 

 circumstance, most of our climbers being rather awkward at 

 running." "''' 



d. Their notes are said to be a cliirp^ and a song, hardly 

 worthy of the name, which is somewhat like that of the 

 Yellow-winged Sparrow. 



B. CAUDACUTUS. Sharp-tailed Finch. A summer resi- 

 dent in Massachusetts, but rare, being chiefly confined to a 

 few marshes.* 



at Rye Beach, in the fall of 1860, hav- " Yo\. iv, p. 08. 



ino- been Sharp-tailed Finches," {New * A very common, but somewhat 



England Bird Life, I, -p. 261.) — W. B. local summer resident of the entire 



