16 



NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



sexual organs. The song is very agreeable, not in the least recalling the 

 monotonous ditty of the Chip Bird, or the rather weak performances of some 

 other species of the genus. In the latter part of summer and early autumn 

 the birds were generally seen in small troops, perhaps families, in weedy 

 places, associating with the western variety of Spizdla socialis, as well as with 

 Goldfinches." 



Lieutenant Couch met with individuals of this species at Agua Nueva, in 

 Coahuila, Mexico, in May, 1853. They were found in small flocks among 

 the mountains. Their nest and eggs are unknown. 



Melospiza melodia. 



Genus MELOSPIZA, Baird. 



Melosinza, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1868, 478. (Type, Fringilla melodia, Wils.) 



Gen. Crar. Body stout. Bill conical, very obsoletely notched, or smooth ; somewhat 



compressed. Lower mandible not so deep 

 as the upper. Commissure nearly straight. 

 Gronys a little curved. Feet stout, not 

 stretching beyond the tail; tarsus a Httle 

 longer than the middle toe ; outer toe a 

 little longer than the inner ; its claw not 

 quite reaching to the base of the middle 

 one. Hind toe appreciably longer than the 

 middle one. Wings quite short and round- 

 ed, scarcely reaching beyond the base of 

 the tail; the tertials considerably longer 

 than the secondaries ; the quills considera- 

 bly graduated ; the fourth longest ; the first 

 not longer than the tertials, and almost the 

 shortest of the primaries. Tail moderately long, rather longer from coccyx than the 

 wings, and considerably graduated ; the feathers ^ , 



oval at the tips, and not stiffened. Crown and 

 back similar in color, and streaked; beneath thickly 

 streaked, except in M. palustris. Tail immaculate. 

 Usually nest on ground ; nests strongly woven of 

 grasses and fibrous stems ; eggs marked with rusty- 

 brown and purple on a ground of a clay color. 



This genus differs from Zonotrichia in the 

 shorter, more graduated tail, rather longer 

 hind toe, much more rounded wing, which is 

 shorter ; the tertiaries longer ; the first quill 

 almost the shortest, and not longer than the 

 tertials. The under parts are spotted ; the 

 crown streaked, and like the back. 



There are few species of American birds 

 that have caused more perplexity to the 

 ornithologist than the group of which Melospiza melodia is the type. Spread 



Melospiza mdodta. 



