66. AMPHISPIZA. 631 



Poospiza belli, var. nevadensis, Ridgio. Bull. Essex Inst. v. p. 191 

 (1873) ; Baird, Brewer, $ Ridgw. Hist. N. Amer. B. i. p. 594 

 (1874) ; Hensh. Rep. Zool. Exp'l. 100th Merid. p. 275 (1875). 



Aiuphispiza belli, Tar. nevadensis, Coues, B. N.-IVest, p. 234 (1874). 



Ampbispiza belli nevadensis, Ridgw. Proc. U.S.Nat. Mus. iii. p. 180 

 (1881) ; Coues, Check-list N. Amer. B. p. 55 (1882) ; id. Key N. 

 Amer. B. 2nd ed. p. 376 (1884) ; Dreiv, Auk, ii. p. 16 (1885) ; A. 

 O. U. Check-list, p. 277 (1886). 



Adult. General colour above pale ashy brown, narrowly but 

 distinctly streaked with blackish, the rump and upper tail-coverts 

 uniform ashy brown ; lesser wing-coverts sandy brown ; median 

 and greater coverts dark brown, edged with paler brown and tipped 

 with white, forming a double wing-bar ; bastard-wing, primary- 

 coverts, and quills dusky brown, edged with pale ashy, the inner 

 secondaries with brown ; tail-feathers blackish, edged with pale 

 brown ; the outer ones fringed with white along the tip of the 

 inner web, the outermost externally edged with white and having 

 a white mark at the end of the inner web ; crown of head and hind 

 neck uniform ashy grey, contrasting with the back ; base of forehead 

 blackish, with a small white spot ; lores and feathers below the eye 

 blackish, with a small spot of white above the lores ; eyelid white ; 

 ear-coverts dark ashy grey ; cheeks white, separated by a narrow 

 malar stripe of black from the throat, which is also white like the 

 rest of the under surface of the body ; the black malar stripe con- 

 tinued on to the sides of the chest in the shape of small linear 

 spots; in the centre of the fore neck a streak of black; abdomen 

 white ; sides of body and flanks tinged with ashy fulvous, and 

 broadly streaked with black ; thighs and under tail-coverts white ; 

 under wing- coverts and axillaries white, slightly tinged with olive- 

 yellow ; quills below dusky, ashy along the inner edge. Total length 

 5*6 inches, culmen - 45, wing 3, tail 2-7, tarsus 0-85. 



The winter plumage of the adult male only differs from the summer 

 dress in being a little more mealy, the facial and other markings 

 on the underparts being more obscured ; the ashy head is shaded 

 with brown like the back, on which the black streaks are less 

 distinct ; the wing-coverts are broadly tipped with pale fawn-colour, 

 and the inner secondaries broadly edged with the same colour ; the 

 sides of the body and flanks are also pale fawn-colour, streaked with 

 blackish ; the black malar streak and the black on the centre of the 

 breast are both feebly indicated. 



Hah. British Columbia ; South-eastern Wyoming, Utah, and 

 Nevada, south to Arizona and a! exico, and east to Colorado and New 

 Mexico. 



a, b. Ad.sk. West side of Kocky Mountains, J. K. Lord, Esq. [P.]. 

 British Columbia. 



c. Ad. sk. Carson City, Nevada, Aug. 27 Salvin-Godman Coll. 



(H. W. Henshaw; Sni. no. 

 72330). 



d. $ ad. sk. Carson City, Nevada, May 12 (H. Salvin-Godman Coll. 



W. Henshaw ; Sm. no. 77651). 



