412 



S YS TEMA Tl C S Y NOP SIS. — PA SSERES — OSCINES. 



S. Atlautic and Gulf States, including Florida. It breeds in uortlierly parts of this range, but 

 only in moist or uiarshy spots; nest buUcy, on the ground or in thick grass or a clump of 

 reeds ; eggs 3-5, 0.72 X 0.54, white, profusely flecked with brown, sometimes chiefly marked 

 about the larger end with darker brown or blackish spots. Cotumictiliis lecontii of all pre- 

 vious eds. of the Key; Emberizu leconteii Aud., 1843; Ammodronms leconteii Gray, 1849; 

 Ammodramus {Cotiirniculus) leconteii A. 0. U. Lists, 1886 and 1895, No. 548. Approaching 

 Ammodramas caudacutus in many respects, aud inhabiting similar resorts in the interior. 



(Subgenus Ammodramus.) 



A7ialt/sis of Species. 

 Coloration much variegated ; general tone buffy. No briglit yellow on lore or edge of wing ; long buif superciliary 



and malar stripes caudacutus, nelsoni, n. subvirgalus 



Coloration little variegated ; general tone dark. Loral spot and edge of wing bright j-ellow. 



Upper parts olive-gray, obscurely streaked maritimus, in. peninsuUc, m. sennrlli 



Upper parts quite blackish nkjresceus 



A. caudacu'tus. (Lat. Cauda, tail ; acutus, sharp. Fig. 274.) Sharp-tailed Finch. 

 Quail-head. Olive-gray, sharply streaked on back with blackish and whitish, less so on 



rump with blackish alone. Crown 

 darker than nape, with brownish- 

 black streaks, tending to form lateral 

 stripes and obscure olive-gray median 

 line ; no yellow loral spot, but long line 

 over eye and sides of head rich buff 

 or orange-brown, enclosing olive-gray 

 auriculars and a dark speck behind 

 them, or dark postocular stripe over 

 them. Olive-gray of cervix extend- 

 ing on sides of neck. Below, white; 

 fiire parts and sides tinged with yel- 

 lowish-brown or buff" of variable inten- 

 sity, breast and sides sharply sti'eaked 

 with dusky. Greater coverts and in- 

 ner secondaries with blackish field 

 toward their ends, broadly margined 

 with rusty brown and whitish. Tail- 

 feathers brown, with dusky shaft-stripes 

 and tendency to " water" with crosswise wavy bars. Bill blackish above, pale or not below, 

 feet brown. Coloration in spring and summer clearer and paler, in fall and in young birds moi-e 

 brightly aud extensively buff. Rather smaller than A. maritimus; bill still slenderer and tail- 

 feathers still narrower and more acute. Length 5.10-5.50; extent 7.50; wing 2.25; tail 2.00; 

 bill 0.45-0.50; tarsus, or middle toe and claw, 0.75. Salt mar.shes of the Atlantic and Gulf 

 States, N. to Maine, abundant; range similar to that of ^. maritimus, but on the whole more 

 northerly, especially in the breeding season ; nest and eggs similar and scarcely distinguishable ; 

 eggs rather smaller, 0.75 X 0.55, and perhaps less boldly marked. 



A. nel'soni. (To E. W. Nelson, of Illinois.) Nelson's Sharp-tailed Finch. Similar 

 to the last, but smaller, with bill slenderer and shorter; colors brighter and markings more 

 sharply defined, especially the dead white streaks on the rich brown ground of the back. Fresh 

 marshes of Mississippi Valley; breeds from N. Illinois to Manitoba, winters to Texas; in 

 migrations on the Atlantic coast from New England to South Carolina; has occurred in Cali- 



FiG. 274. — Generic details of 

 nat. size. (Ad. nat. del. E. C.) 



{A. caudacutus), 



