J NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



A. Crown different from the sides of the head, a plain light superciliary 

 stripe. Young with crown and breast streaked. 



a. Crown rufous and plain in adult ; in young, grayish and with streaks. 



I. Streak behind eye, and tinge on side of breast, rufous. Egg pale blue, 



or bluish-white, blotched with pale brown, or sprinkled ivith reddish. 



1. S. monticola. Crown bright rufous, undivided medially ; a 

 dusky spot on lore ; wing-bands sharply defined, pure white. A 

 black spot on breast ; jugulum tinged with ashy. Bill black 

 above, yellow below. Length, 6.25 ; wing, 3.Q0. Hab. Whole of 

 North America ; north of the United States only, in summer. 



2. S. pusilla. Crown dull rufous, indistinctly divided medially ; 

 lores entirely whitish ; wing-bands not sharply defined, pale brown. 

 No black spot on breast ; jugulum tinged with buflF. Bill entirely 

 light brownish-red. 



Wing, 2.70 ; tail, 2.80 ; bill, from forehead, .37. Hab. East- 

 ern Province United States var. pusilla. 



"Similar, but colors clearer, and bill more robust." Hab. 

 Peten, Guatemala var. pinetorum} 



II. Streak behind the eye blackish. No rufous tinge on side of breast. 



Egg deep blue, with black dots and streaks round larger end. 



3. S. socialis. Crown bright rufous, not distinctly divided, gen- 

 erally plain. Forehead black, divided medially with white. Streak 

 of black on lore and behind eye. Rump pure bluish-ash. Bill 

 blackish, lower mandible paler. 



Auriculars deep ash, in strong contrast with pure white of 

 the superciliary stripe and throat; breast without ashy tinge. 

 Dorsal streaks broad. Wing, 2.80 ; tail, 2.30. Hab. Eastern 

 Province of United States var. socialis. 



Auriculars lighter ash, less strongly contrasted with the 



white above and below; breast strongly tinged with ash. 



Dorsal streaks narrow. Wing, 3.00 ; tail, 2.90. Hab. Western 



Province of United States, and table-lands of Mexico. 



var. arizonce. 



b. Crown light grayish-brown, with distinct black streaks; young 



differing in streaked. Egg deep blue, with black streaks and dots 



(precisely as in socialis). 



4. S. pallida. 



Crown divided medially by a distinct pale stripe; whitish 

 superciliary stripe, and blackish post-ocular streak sharply 

 defined. A dusky sub-maxillary streak. Nape ashy in con- 

 trast with the crown and back. Wing, 2.50 ; tail, 2.40. Hab. 

 Plains of United States, from the Saskatchewan southward. 



var. p)(^^^i^^- 



Crown without a distinct median stripe. Markings on side 



of head not sharply defined. No dusky sub-maxillary stripe, 



and nape scarcely different from crown and back. Wing, 2.50; 



tail, 2.60. iTaft. Middle and western Provinces . viiv. br eto eri. 



B. Crown not different from the sides of head ; no light superciliary stripe. 



1 Spizella pinetorum, Salvin, Pr. Z. S. 1863, p. 189. ("Similis S. pusilla;, ex Amer. Sept. 

 et Mexico, sed coloribus clarioribus et rostro robustiore difFert.") 



