428 



SYSTE^fA TIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES. 



Via. 285. — Black-throated Finch, reduced. (Shep- 

 pard del. Nichols sc.) 



ashy or fulvous-brownish, but no streaks. 



upper parts and more white tipping of lateral tail-feathers, than the next form. Eastern and 

 Central Texas, N. to W. Kansas, S. to San Luis Potosi. Emberiza bilineata Cass. Pr. 

 Phila. Acad, v, Oct. 18.)U, p. 104, pi. 3, and Illust. B. Cal. and Tex. pt. v, 1854, p. 150, 



pi. xxiii, in part; includes both forms. Poo- 

 spiza bilineata ScL. 1857; Bd. 1858; and CouES, 

 Key, 1st ed. 1872, p. 140, in part. Amphispiza 

 bilineata CouES, Birds N. W. 1874, p. 234, and 

 Key, 2d-4th eds. 1884-90, p. 258, in part ; A. 

 0. U. Lists, 1886-95, No. 573, in part. 

 A. b. desertic'ola. (Lat. desertus, deserted, 

 perf. partic. of deserere, to desert, forsake ; de- 

 serta, n. pi., deserted places, deserts; desertum, 

 a desert ; and colere., to inhabit.) Desert 

 Black-throated Finch. Adult $ 9 : Face, 

 chin, and throat sharply jet-black; a strong 

 white superciliary line, and another bounding 

 black of throat; under eyelid white ; auriculars 

 dark slate. No yellow anywhere. Below, pure 

 white ; sides, flanks, and crissum shaded with 

 Above, uniform grayish-brown ; clearer ash in 

 high plumage, otherwise browner, generally more ashy anteriorly than behind, and shading 

 insensibly into the black face. Wings dusky; coverts and inner quills edged with color of 

 back. Tail black, with narrow grayish edgings ; outer feather sharply edged and tipped with 

 white, and several others similarly tipped ; white spot on inner web of outer tail-feather under 

 0.50, sometimes only 0.10. Bill and feet plumbeous-black. Length 5.00 or more, sometimes 

 5.50; wing 2.50-2.75; tail nearly same; culmen 0.40; depth of bill at base 0.25; tarsus 0.75. 

 Young: Head-markings obscure ; little or no black on throat; a few pectoral streaks. Owing 

 to absence of black on throat, the white maxillary stripe is ill-defined, but the other stripe is 

 conspicuous. Back rather brown than ashy ; tail blackish, not pure black. A jaunty little 

 Sparrow, haunting sage-brush and chaparral of the Southwest, from western Texas and New 

 Mexico W. to coast region of California, N. throughout the Great Basin, S. in Chihuahua, 

 Sonora, and Lower California ; breeds throughout its U. S. range, migratory from noi'therly 

 parts. An effective songster, with its sweet simple notes. Nest in bushes slight and frail, 

 close to the ground; eggs 2-5, 0.72 X 0.58, white with a pale greenish or bluish tinge, un- 

 marked ; laid in May, June, and later. A. bilineata, in part, of 2d-4th eds. of Key, and of 

 A. 0. U. Lists, 1886-95. A. b. deserticola Ridgw. Auk, July, 1898, p. 229; A. 0. U. Suppl. 

 List, Auk, Jan. 1899, p. 119, No. 573 a. 



A. belli. (To J. G. Bell, of N. Y.) Bell's Finch. California Sage Sparrow. 

 Adult S 9 '• Breast with a black or dusky spot ; edge of wing slightly yellowish. Forehead, 

 supraloral spot, and edges of eyelids, inconspicuously white. Below, white, more or less tinged 

 with pale brownish ; sides with slight sparse streaks that anteriorly become aggregated into 

 dusky maxillary stripes cutting off from white throat a white stripe that runs from corner of 

 bill ; lores and circumocular region dusky. Above, grayish -brown, ashicr on head ; middle of 

 back with small obscure blackish streaks ; wing-coverts and inner quills with much fulvous 

 edging ; tail black with slight pale edgings, outer web of outer feather simply whitish. Bill and 

 feet plumbeous-blue. Length $ ? under 6.00 ; wing and tail under 3.00 ( $ wing 2.50-2.80 ; 

 tail 2.60-2.90 ; in 9 rather less). Young: Similar ; more streaked below, and wings with two 

 grayish-buff bars. Resident in California W. of the Sierra Nevada, N. to 38° at least, S. into 

 Lower California. Breeds nearly or quite throughout its range; nest on ground or very near 

 it, in sage brush, built of bark shreds, grasses, etc. Eggs 3-4, 0.70 X 0.50, pale greenish 

 blue, speckled. 



