FRINGILLIDiE — THE FINCHES. 41 



recently been detected by Mr. Eidgway in Southern Illinois, where it is a 

 summer resident, and wliere it breeds, but is not abundant. It inhabits old 

 fields, where, perched upon a fence-stake or an old dead tree, it is described 

 as chanting a very delightful song. It was first taken on the 12th of July, 

 1871, on the road about half-way between Mount Carmel and Olney. The 

 bird was then seen on a fence, and its unfamiliar appearance and fine song 

 at once attracted his notice as he was riding by. As several were heard 

 singing in the same neighborhood, it seemed common in that locality, and- 

 as a young bird was taken in its first plumage tliere is no doubt that it is a 

 regular summer visitant of Southern Illinois, and breeds there. Mr. Eidg- 

 way speaks of its song as one of the finest he has ever heard, most resem- 

 bling the sweet chant of the Field Sparrow, but is stronger, and varied 

 by a clear, high, and very musical strain. He describes its song as resem- 

 bling the syllables th^44^eei-til-lut, lut-lut, the first being a very fine trill 

 pitched in a very high musical key, the last syllable abrupt and metallic in 

 tone. 



The food of this species. Dr. Bachman states, consists of the seeds of grasses, 

 and also of coleopterous insects, as well as of a variety of the small berries 

 so abundant in that part of the country. He speaks of its flight as swift, 

 direct, and somewhat protracted, and adds that it is often out of sight before 

 it alights. 



Dr. Coues did not meet with this Sparrow in South Carolina, but he was 

 informed by Professor Leconte that it occurs about Columbia and elsewhere 

 in the State, frequenting open pine woods and old dry fields. 



Dr. Bryant met with its nest in Florida, April 20. It was similar, in con- 

 struction, to that of the Savannah Sparrow, and contained five eggs. It was 

 the only Sj^arrow found by him in the pine barrens near Enterprise, and 

 was only seen occasionally, when it was a very difficult bird to shoot, as it 

 runs round in the grass more like a mouse than a bird, and will not fly 

 until almost trodden on, then moving only a few feet at a time. 



The nests of this bird, found by Dr. Bryant in Florida and by Dr. Gerliardt 

 in Northern Georgia, were all placed upon the ground and concealed in tufts 

 of thick grass, and constructed entirely of coarse wiry grasses, with no other 

 lining than this material. The eggs, four in number, are of a pure, almost 

 brilliant white, of a rounded oval shape, and measure .74 by .60 of an inch. 



Peucsea sestivalis var. arizonse, Eidgway. 



ARIZONA SPARROW. 



Pciicma cassini, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 486. (Los Nogales specimen.) 



Sp. Char. (6,.327 $, Los Nogales, Northern Sonora, June, C. B. Kennerly.) Similar 

 to P. cestivalis, but paler; wings and tail longer. Above light chestnut, all the feathers 

 margined and tipped with bluish-gray, but the reddish prevailing. Interscapular and 



VOL. II. 6 



