BIRDS — FEIN GILLlUAE — E U SPIZ A. 



493 



In this species the bill is large and much swollen. The tail is slightly emarginate, and a 

 good deal rounded. The second quill is longest; the third, fourth, and first are scarcely shorter. 

 The tertiaries are much elongated, within a quarter of an inch as long as the primaries. The 

 claws are large ; moderately curved. The tarsi are large and strong. 



Tlie white patch on the wing is confined to the greater and middle coverts. The elongated 

 tertiaries are conspicuously edged with white. Some of the feathers on the posterior part of 

 the body have white margins. 



A young male is similar to the female, but the chin and quills, with the lesser wing coverts, 

 as also the tail, are black. There is also a tendency to black in the anterior part of the belly. 

 Very young birds have the characters of the female, the white patch on the wing usually quite 

 distinct, sometimes wanting. 



List of specimens. 



EUSPIZA, Bonaparte. 



Euspiza, Bonaparte, List, 1838. Type Emberiza americana, Gmelin. 

 Eus])ina, Cabanis,Mus. Hein. 1851, 133. Same type. 



Ch. — Bill large and strong, swollen, and without any ridges ; the lower mandible nearly as high as the upper ; as broad 

 al the base as the length of the gonys, and considerably broader than the upper mandible ; the edges much inflexed, and shut- 

 ling much wiihin the upper mandible ; the commissure considerably angulated at ihe base, then decidedly sinuated. The larsus 

 barely equal to the middle toe ; the lateral toes nearly equal, not rtacbing to the base of the middle claw ; the hind toe about 

 equal to the middle one without its claw. The wings long and acute, reaching nearly to the middle of the tail ; the tertials 

 decidedly longer than the secondaries, but much shorter than the primaries ; first quill longest, the others regularly graduated. 

 Tail considerably shorter than the wings, though moderately long ; nearly even, although slightly emarginate ; the outer 

 feathers scarcely shorter. Middle of back only striped ; beneath without streaks. 



