126 OENTRONYX BAIRDII, BAIRd's BUNTING. 



dusky streaks across the breast, continuous with others, longer and mostly lighter, 

 along the whole sides, and with others, again, extending up the sides of the neck into 

 small, vague uiaxilhiry and auricular niarliings. When the feathers are perfectly 

 arranged these lateral head-markings are seen to be a post-ocular stripe just over the 

 auriculars, a post-auricular spot, a streak starting from the angle of the mouth, and 

 another heavier one parallel with and below this, rniniing directly into the pectoral 

 ones. Quills without special markings, excepting the elongated inner secondaries, 

 which correspond with the scapulars. Tail the same, slightly whitish-edged. Upper 

 mandible mostly dark, lower pale. Feet llesh-colored. Length, 5.10 to 5.85; extent, 

 8.60 to 9.85: wing 2.75 to 3.00 (in one case 3.05; average, about 5| by 9^ by 2i); tail, 

 2.00 to ■2.25; culmen, about 0.40; tarsus, in front, about 0.75; middle toe and claw, and 

 hind toe and claw, each, rather less. The female averages rather smaller than the 

 male, but is otherwise similar. 



AiituDuial plumage. — Soft, with brighter, more suffused colors, in bolder pattern. 

 Whole top and sides of head, as well as nape and part of neck, suffused with rich buff", 

 in many instances as bright a golden-brown as that on the head of tSeiiirits anrucapiJlus. 

 A paler, rather ochraceous, shade of the same also suffusing the whole fore uuder-parts. 

 Pectoral and lateral dusky streaks, as well as the two rows on each side of the throat, 

 large, heavy, diffuse. B.ay and whitish edgiugs of the secondaries broad and conspicu- 

 ous, constrasting with the black central fields. Whitish edgings of tail-feathers the 

 same ; and, in general, the same character is stamped over all the upper plumage. 



Xi'whi-Jh'dfjed ijotutfj have each feather of the dorsal plumage conspicuously bordered 

 with white, producing a set of semicircles, much as in Xeocor;is spraguei. There is the 

 same general buffy suffusion of the head and fore-parts noted in the last paragraph, but 

 the tint is dull and ochrey. The markings below have a short, broad, gnttiforiu char- 

 acter. When just from the nest, the edging of the secondaries and tail-feathers is of a 

 peculiar pinkish-rusty shade. 



Although we here retain the nomenclature of the Key, the structural peculiarities of 

 Centronyx are so slightly different from Pansevcuhis that the bird might, very properly, 

 be included in the latter genus, as we have already suggested. The characters given 

 by Prof. Baird, from the original specimen, do not all hold throughout a large series. 



Not the least singular thing in the history of this species is the length 

 of time which elapsed after its discovery before anything further was 

 learned about it. Considering how often and how thoroughly the region 

 it inhabits has been explored by naturalists, and how abundant the bird 

 is now known to be, it is the more surprising that it should have so long 

 eluded observation. No second specimen w^as known for thirty years, 

 until Mr. Aiken and myself took it, in Colorado and in Dakota, respect- 

 ively ; and the same year, as I am informed, Mr. Ilenshaw has obtained 

 it further south. The question may arise, has the bird really been, all 

 this time, so common and widely dispersed, or has it only recently be- 

 come so? Sprague's Lark offers a nearly parallel case; and instances 

 like these suggest the probability of a kind of rotation in the abundance 

 of birds, analogous to that occurring among plants, no less tlian a 

 change in geographical distribution not dependent upon the ordinary 

 laws of migration. 



However this may be, the fact is that Baird's Bunting is extremely 

 abundant in Dakota, in some placesoutnumberingall other birds together. 

 I did not see it immediately along the Red River, but at once encoun- 

 tered it beyond the low Pembina range of mountains, thirty or forty 

 miles west of the river, as soon as I came upon the high prairie. This 

 was the second week in July, when I shot some young birds just tledged, 

 though the great majority were then breeding. In two days, July 14 

 and 15, I took thirty specimens, and more might have been procured ; 

 during the summer about seventy-five were preserved, showing all 

 stages. Almost without exception my earlier specimens were males, 

 which attracted attention as they sat singing on the low bushes of the 

 prairie, the females lying concealed in the grass, incubating or attending 

 to the young. The song is peculiar, consisting of two or three distinct 

 syllables, in a mellow, tinkling tone, running into an indefinite trill; it 

 may be suggested by zip-zipziihzr-rr-r. In their general appearance 

 and habits, the birds are so nearly the same as the Savanna Sparrrows 



