FRINGILLID.E: FINCHES, BUXTINGS, SPARROWS. 403 



in the East, tlie others all of more special distributiou, aud with one exception Western. Nest 

 on the ground, in prairie, meadoM', or marsh ; eggs colored. 



Note. — The genus PajioCMZia has been reduced to a subgenus of Ammodramus hy thQ A. O. \J. Committee, but 

 without sufficient reason, as I thuik. The " Savanna Sparrow group " is a well-marked one, to which as good characters 

 can be assigned as those of most genera of friugillines, and nothing is gamed, either scientifically or conventionally, by 

 putting it under Ammodramus ; for the same diagnosis has to be drawn up, to distinguish this group from its relatives, 

 whether we call it a genus or only a subgenus. Moreover, in puzzling out the species and subspecies of this difficult 

 group, it is practically most convenient, at the outset, to distinguish them collectively from ^wmorfrnrnw^. With this 

 explanation, I must decline to follow my respected colleagues in this needless iimovation upon long-established usage, 

 and continue to keep the genus Passerctdiis, as in all former eds. of the Key, and as nearly all writers have done since 

 1858, until recently. As to Centronyx, which I admitted to full rank in the orig. ed., 1872, and suppressed entirely in 

 the later eds., 1884-90, I am quite willing to adopt the middle course of the A. O. U. and give it as a subgenus of Passer- 

 c'lhis. As to Cofiirnictiliis, it shades directly into -4 /» Hi orfra»Hi/s through certain of its species, which moreover do not 

 very closely agree among themselves, as stated in former eds. of the work ; and I am therefore very well satisfied to 

 degrade it to subgeneric rank, following the A. O. U. We thus have, in the case of the four genera in mention, Passer- 

 eiiliis (with Centronyr) on the one hand, and on the other Ammodramus (with Coturnicuhi.i). This seems to me the 

 most judicious stand to take, and it is also the one taken by eminent British authority : see Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. 

 xii, 1888, p. GS3. 



Analysis of Subgenera, Species, and Subspecies. 



Tail short, less than thrice as long as tarsus, obviously emarginate and with very narrow, pointed feathers. {Sub- 

 genus Centronyx. ) 

 Bill typical. Cromi with median light stripe. Inner secondaries seldom quite equalling primaries. No decided 

 lemon-yellow on edge of wing. Top of head with two black stripes, and suffused with rich brownish-yellow 



bairdi 

 Tail longer, thrice as long as tarsus, not obviously emarginate, and with broader, less pointed feathers. (Subgenus 



Passerculds. ) 

 Bill typical. Crown with median liglit stripe. Inner secondaries at full lengtli. Edge of wing with lemon-yellow ; 

 same shade on head, if any. Upper parts much variegated ; under white, with sharp streaking. 



Large, pale ; little or no yellowish ; length 0.00 or more ; wing 3.25. Atlantic coast princeps 



Large, dark, with decided yellow ; length about 6.00 ; wing 3.00. Northwest coast sandwichensis 



Medium, of average coloration ; length about 5..50; wing 2.75. N. Am. at large s. savanna 



Medium ; pale ; size of savanna proper. Interior and western s. alaudinus 



Small, dark ; yellow very decided. Length about 5.25 ; wing 2.50. Cala. coast s. bryanti 



Small, very dark ; head stripes obscure ; under tail-coverts streaked. Length about 5 00 ; wing 2. CO. Cala. 



coast bi-ldingi 



Bill enlarged, turgid, with convex culmen. Crown-stripe obsolete. No yellow on head or wing. 



Larger: bill 0.50. Length 5.30; wing near 3.00. Pale brownish -gray, with obsolete streaking; the streaks 



below light brown. Coast of California rostraius 



Smaller : bill 0.33. Length 5.00 ; wing 2. .50. Darker, the streaks below dusky. L. Cala. ... r. guttalus 

 BiU size of that of roslratus, but conic, with straight culmen. 



Like guttalus, but larger. San Benito Isl. L. Cala sanctorum 



{Subgenus Centronyx.) 



P. (C.) baird'i. (To Prof. S. F. Baird. Fig. 268.) Baird's Sparrow. Prairie Spar- 

 row. Adult ^ 9? "* breeding plumage : With a general resemblance to the common Savanna 

 S[iarr()\v. Tuner secondaries less elongated, rarely equalling primaries in the closed wings. 

 First 4 ipiills about equal and longest. Hind toe and claw about eciualling middle toe and 

 claw, its claw about equalling the digit. Tail shorter than wing, lightly double-rounded 

 (central and outer pair of feathers both a little shorter than intermediate ones). Top of head 

 streaked with black <ind rich brownish-yellow, or buff, the former predominating laterally, the 

 latter chieily as a median stripe, but also suffusing nape and sides of head in greater or less 

 degree. Back varied with brownish-black and gray, together with a little bay, the two latter 

 colors forming edgings of interscapulars and scapulars. Rump variciiatcMl with gray and 

 chestnut-brown, different in shade from that of back. Under jiarts dull white, usually witli a 

 faint ochrey tin<ie on breast, but often witliout; a circlet of small, sharp, sparse, dusky streaks 

 across breast, continuous witli otliers, longer and mostly lighter, along whole sides, and with 

 others, again, extending up sides of neck into small vague maxillary and auricular markings. 

 When the feathers are perfectly arranged these lateral head-markings are seen to be a post- 



