370 



SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —PASSEEES — OSCINES 



Analysis of Species. 



Adult with throat black, sides not streaked, and no yellow on edge of wing bilineata 258 



Adult with throat white, sides streaked, and yellow on edge of wing. 



Smaller: wing and tail under 3.00; dorsal streaks obsolete belli 259 



J^arger: wing and tail 8.00 or more ; dorsal streaks distinct nevadensis 260 



258. A. biliiiea'ta. (Lat. bilineata, two-lined ; his, twice, linea, a line ; alhuling to the stripes on 

 the head. Fig. 235.) Black-throated Finch. Black-faced Sage Sparrow. $ 9 , 

 adult : Face, chin, and throat sharply jet-black ; a strong white superciliai-y line, and another 

 bounding the black of the throat ; under eyelid white ; auriculars dark slate. No yellow any- 

 where. Below, ))ure white ; tlio sides. Hanks, and crissum shaded with ashy or fulvous- 

 ^^^ brownish, but no streaks. Above, uniform gray- 



-■"'^^ * ^ ish-brown ; clearer ash in high plumage, other- 



'^'i':,^ iS^fW^^g- wise browner, generally more ashy auteriorly than 



behind, and shading insensibly into the black of 

 the face. Wings dusky; coverts and inner quills 

 ^^^^% edged with the color of the back. Tail black, 

 ^-^ with narrow grayish edgings ; the outer feather 

 sharply edged aud tipped with white, and several 

 C. > V others similarly tipped. Bill and feet plumbe- 



'^^^s. "ii ous-black. Small: length about 5.50; wing 

 about 2.50; tail 2.75. Young: The head-mark - 

 ,^ -.w"^*^^^^^^ \^^" ^'^S^ obscure; little or no black on throat; a few 

 ' "' - - -. - 'V\ pectoral streaks. Owing to absence of black on 



the throat, the white maxillary stripe is ill-de- 

 FiG. 235.— Black-throated Finch, reduced. (Shep- fined, but the other stripe is conspicuous. Back 

 pard del. Nichols sc.) rather brown than ashy; tail blackish, not pure 



black. A jaunty little sparrow, haunting the sage-brush and chaparral of the southwest, from 

 Texas to California, N. to Utah and Nevada or farther, migratory northerly. An effective 

 songster. Nest in bushes close to the ground; eggs 4-5, 0.72 X 0.58, whitish, unmarked. 



259. A. bel'li. (To J. G. Bell, of N. Y.) Bell's Finch. California Sage Sparrow. No 

 definite black about head, and edge of wing slightly yellowish. Forehead, line over eye, and 

 edges of eyelids, inconspicuously white. Below, white, more or less tinged with pale brownish, 

 the sides with slight sparse streaks that anteriorly become aggregated into slight maxillary 

 stripes cutting off from the white throat a whitish line that runs from the corner of the bill ; 

 lores and circum-ocular region dusky. Above, grayish-brown, ashier on head, the middle of the 

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

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

 Bill aud feet plumbeous-blue. Length under 6.00 ; wing and tail under 3.00. Southern 

 California, resident. Nest in low bushes or on the ground ; eggs greenish-blue, speckled. 



260. A. b. nevaden'sis. Artemisia Sparrow. Nevada Sage Sparrow. Similar to the last 

 in coloration. Edge of wing, and sometimes the lesser coverts, yellowish. Above, ashy-brown, 

 much as in P. bilineata, clearer ash anteriorly, more brownish behind ; also clearer in high 

 plumage, and more overcast with brown in less mature specimens ; the middle of the back and 

 the scapulars very notably streaked with fine black lines. Below, white ; the sides and some- 

 times, especially in fall specimens, most of the under parts shaded with pale fulvous-brown; the 

 sides, and sometimes the breast, with dusky streaks, which on the side of the neck tend to run 

 in a chain, partly distinguishing a pure white lateral stripe above them from the general 

 whitish of the under parts. Sides of head slaty, becoming dusky on lores ; a conspicuous white 

 eye-ring. A short white line above lores, and another on middle of forehead. Wings and taU 

 as in the last; outer feather edged aud tipped with white. Bill dark bluish -plumbeous, under 



