220 Ridgway on a New Species of J''""'". 



side of the throat, along the lower edge of the malar region ; abdomen dull 

 white: crissum creamy buff; edge of the wing, from the carpal to the 

 carpo-pbalangeal joint, bright yellow. Bill pale horn-color, the maxilla 

 darker; iris brown ; legs and feet pale brown. 



Total length, about 6.00 ; wing, 2.85 - 2.60 | 2.51) ; tail. 2.55 - 2.80 (2.69) ; 

 bill, from nostril to tip. .30-. .'53; depth through base, .27-. 30 (.29); 

 tarsus, .75 -.82 (.77) ; middle toe, .55 - .60 (.59). 



Habitat. — Open oak woods, old fields, etc., of the semi-prairie region, 

 from Central Texas to Southern Illinois. (Wabash Co., Illinois, Mus. 

 R. Ridgway and E. W.Nelson ; Richland Co., Illinois, Mus. E. W. Nelson ; 

 " Lower Cross Timbers" and "Post Oak Woods," near Gainesville, Cook 

 Co., Texas,* U. S. Nat. Mus.) 



Compared with P. aestivalis, in corresponding plumage, the differ- 

 ences of coloration are at once apparent. The upper parte are much 

 paler, and more "sandy " in hue, and the black mesial streaks which 

 in aestivalis mark all the feathers (except those of the nape and 

 wings) are either entirely wanting, or confined to the interscapular 

 region ; the breast and sides are very distinctly ochraceous-buff, 

 these parts in aestivalis being dull buffy grayish. The proportions 

 are very nearly the same in the two species, bur illinoensis has a 

 longer wing and thicker bill, the average of five specimens, com- 

 pared with six of aestivalis, being 2.51 and 0.29 respectively, against 

 2.40 and 0.26. P. arizonce is so different as scarcely to need com- 

 parison, having, like aestivalis, the whole crown Btreaked with black ; 

 the general hue of the upper parts more of a bair-browu, and the lower 

 parts marly uniform pale buffy grayish, the abdomen not conspicu- 

 ously lighter. It is also larger, measuring, wing 2.60, and tail 2.85. 



The Peuccea illinoensis first came under my observation early in 

 June, 1871, when several were seen and others heard, about half- 

 way between Mount Carmel and Olney, the former in Wabash, the 

 latter in Richland County. Illinois. The first individual noticed sal 

 upon a rail-fence by the road-side, and being very near, the first 

 glance showed it to lie a species I had never seen before. Before 

 m\ gun could be got from the wagon, however, ij dived into the 

 weeds on the inside of the fence. We bad proceeded but a short 

 distance when a clear, loud, musical chant entirely new to me broke 



upon our ears, from the direction of some large dead trees standing 

 in a weedy field Bome distance from the road. The Binger was Boon 

 discovered, perched on one of the lower limbs of a dead tree, some 



* Collected by Geo II Etagsdale, of Gainesville, 1 



