386 



SYSTEM A TIC SYNOPSIS. — PA SSERES — OSCINES. 



284. 



87. 



Fig. 245. 



P. i. schista'cea (Lat. scMstacea, bldty 

 is ; the allusion, iiowever, is to the color.^ 



Ni(holbsc) 



obsolete, — thus giviug a uuiform and continuous ruddy-olive tone, becoming more foxy-red on 

 the rump, wings, and tail. Wing-bars obsolete. Beneath, white, thickly marked, excepting 

 on the middle of the belly, with triangular spots of about the same dark color as the back, — 

 aggregated on the breast, and the entire sides of the neck and body almost like the back ia 

 uniformity of the color, but still showing ill-defined confluent dark i:eddish- brown streaks on a 



more olive-brown ground. Cheeks 

 and auriculars with some whitish 

 ^pmkling. No obvious mark- 

 ings on wings. Bill dusky above, 

 ajiparently reddish or yellowish 

 b( low ; feet reddish-brown. Size 

 ot ihaca, but very different-look- 

 ing in color, and somewhat differ- 

 ently proportioned ; wing aver- 

 agmg 3.25, and tail scarcely or 

 not shorter; bill about 0.50; 

 hind claw the same, and as long 

 l^ Its digit. A curious form, re- 

 lated to iliaca much as Melospiza 

 I ufina is to the Eastern song spar- 

 low Pacific coast region, from 

 Alaska to California, breeding in 

 mountains and northward. (P. 

 toii7fiendi Aud. Auct.) 

 Gr (TxioTos, schisto'i, fissile or cleft, as slate-stone 

 SLATE-COLORED Fox Sparrow. S j 9 '■ General 

 color above uniform slate with a slight olive tinge, becoming dull foxy-red on the wings and 

 tail ; the streaking of the back obsolete, but M^hitish wing bars sometimes indicated. Below, 

 white, shaded along the sides with the color of the back, but not so as to obscure the decidefd 

 markings of the parts ; the under parts at large spotted and streaked with dusky-brown, usually 

 aggregated into a blotch on the breast. This is the connecting link between iliaca and una- 

 lascensis; the upper parts are nearly of the slaty-ash that forms the ground color of iliaca, 

 only the foxy streaks of the back are obsolete. The spotting below is con-espondingly darker. 

 The fonn has, however, some peculiarities : tail decidedly longer in comparison with the wings. 

 Length about 7.00; wing 3.00-3.25; tail 3.35-3.60; bill 0.45; tarsus 0.90. Rocky Mt. 

 region, chiefly, but noted from Kansas to California. 



P. i. megarhyn'cha. (Gr. fieyas, megas, great ; pvyxos, rhugchos, rhgnchus, beak.) Lakge- 

 BILLED Fox Sparrow. Coloration as in P. schistacea. Tail at maximum length, averaging 

 at the extreme of that of schistacea; claws and beak very highly developed; bill very thick, its 

 depth at base 0.50, rather more than its length from nostril to tip; hind claw longer than its 

 digit. A local race of the last, in the mountains of California and Nevada. 

 CALAMOSPI'ZA. (Gr. Kokafios, kalamos, Lat. calamus, a reed ; amCa, spiza, a finch.) Lark 

 Buntings. Bill large and stout at base, the culinen a little curved, the commissure well 

 angulated ; rictus bristly. Wing long and pointed : tip fonned by the lst-4th quUls, rest 

 rapidly graduated ; inner secondaries enlarged and flowing, one of them about reaching the 

 point of the wing when closed. Tail shorter than wing, nearly even. Feet stout, adapted to 

 terrestrial habits; tarsus about as long as middle toe aud claw ; lateral toes nearly equal to each 

 other, scarcely reaching the base of the middle claw ; hind claw about as long as its digit, but not 

 straightened. A well-marked genus, with wing-structure reminding one of Anthus or Alauda; 

 the turgid strongly-angulated bill resembles tliat of a grosbeak. Sexes very dissimilar ; f 

 black and white. 



