FRINGILLIDJE: FINCHES, BUNTINGS, SPARROWS. 423 



Finches. Bill of moderate size, rather elongate-conic, upper inaudible declivous toward end. 

 commissure bent. Wings short and much rounded, folding little if any beyond base of tail; 

 inner secondaries not elongated. Tail little or much longer than wing, much rounded ; lateral 

 feathers some i an inch shorter than middle ; of weak, narrowly linear feathers with elliptically 

 rounded ends. Feet small and weak, not reaching when outstretched nearly to end of tail ; 

 tarsus about equal to middle toe and claw ; lateral toes equal, short, their claws not nearly 

 reaching base of middle claw. Adults scarcely or not streaked below ; crown quite like 

 back, streaked with rusty-brown, black, and gray. A superciliary and postocular stripe, but 

 usually none running under auriculars ; more or less distinct black maxillary stripes (in cassini 

 Hanks also striped). Edge of wing yellow. Nest on ground ; eggs white. Sexes alike ; young 

 different, being more or less streaked below. Aside from this, seasonal differences in plumage 

 of adults, due to wear and tear of the feathers, are very great, and in some respects peculiar ; 

 they have occasioned much perplexity and confusion in determination of several closely allied 

 species or subspecies. 



Analysis of Species {adults). 



Edge of wing yellow. Crown not uniform chestnut ; no chestnut on lesser wing-coverts. Maxillary stripes slight. 

 Nest on ground ; eggs white. 



No stripes on tlie flanks, and no cross-bars on the tail. 



Broadly marked above with rufous streaks or blotches on ashy ground, with black centres of streaks on middle 

 of back. Tail-feathers plain, or only with obscure whitish area. 



Eastern species, mostly dull wliitish on the under parts (eslirulis and ft. bnchmani 



Western species, mostly grayish-buff on the under pans. 



Soutliem Arizona and Souora arizonce 



Texas and Mexico mezicana 



Flanks distinctly striped ; tail cross-barred. 



Marked above with pale brown black-centred streaks, these black centres enlarged transversely at their ends on 

 middle of back. Tail-feathers shafted and barred with blackish, outer broadly edged and tipped with white 



cassini 



P. aestiva'lis. (Lat. (cstivalis, like (Bstivus, summery ; cestus, summer.) Florida Summer 

 Finch. Pine-woods Sparrow. Adult $ 9 : Upper parts, including crown, continuously 

 streaked with blackish, dull chestnut and ashy-gray ; no yellow about head; wing-coverts and 

 inner secondaries marked like back ; edge and bend of wing yellow, as in Coturniculus pas- 

 serinus. Below, dull brownish-ash, or brownish -gray, whitening on belly, deepest on sides 

 and across breast, nowhere obviously streaked in adult plumage. Some obscure dusky max- 

 illary streaks, some vague dusky markings on auriculars, a slight ashy superciliary line, and 

 very obscure median ashy line on crown. Bill dark above, pale below ; legs very pale ; lateral 

 claws falling far short of base of middle claw ; hind claw much shorter than its digit ; tarsus 

 not longer than middle toe and claw; tail much rounded, with obscure grayish-white area on 

 lateral feathers. Young have breast and sides evidently streaked. Length 5.75-6.20, average 

 5.00; extent 7.60-8.30, average 8.00; wing 2.17-2.55, average 2.40; tail 2.25-2.68, average 

 2.50. South Atlantic States, strictly, especially Florida and southern Georgia; a bird of pine 

 barrens, common in suitable localities ; a fine songster. Nest on ground, of grasses ; eggs 4, 

 0.75 X 0.60, pure white. As the first described species of the genus, this has been used as a 

 standard of comparison; but it is the most modified offshoot of a genus which focuses in the 

 Southwest and Mcxicn. 



P. ae. bach'niaiii. (To the Kev. John Bachman.) Bachman's Summer Finch. Oak- 

 woods Sparrow. Adult ^ 9 '■ Above, sandy-ferruginous, indistinctly streaked with light 

 ashy-gray; streaks broadest on back and middle line of crown; interscapulars sometimes with 

 narrow black streaks. Wings light ferruginous ; greater coverts less reddish and edged with 

 paler; inner secondaries dusky, bordered at ends with pale reddish-ash. Tail plain grayish- 

 brown, with ashy edgings of the feathers. Sides of head, neck, and body and breast quite 

 across, dingy buflf-color, deepest on breast, paler ou throat and chin ; a postocular rusty-brown 



