gg NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



those of the Emberiza miliaria of Europe. Its unmusical notes are almost 

 continuously repeated from sunrise to sunset. AVhen the female is startled 

 from lier nest she creeps quietly away through the grass, and then hides her- 

 self, making no complaint, and not showing herself even if her treasures are 

 taken from her. Their nests are constructed of coarse grasses and stems, 

 lined with finer and similar materials. They are, in certain localities, placed 

 on the gTOimd, but more frequently, in many parts of the country, they are 

 built in positions above the ground. This is almost invariably the case 

 where they nest among the tall coarse grasses of the prairies. My attention 

 was first called to this peculiarity by Dr. J. W. Velie, tlien of Eock 

 Island, 111. He informed me that in no instance had he found the nest of 

 this species on the ground, but always raised a few inclies above it. It was 

 usually constructed of the tops of the red-top grasses, worked in among a 

 bunch of thick grass, so as to make the nest quite firm. The meadows in 

 which Dr. Velie found these nests were quite dry, so that there was no neces- 

 sity for their thus building clear from the ground in oi'der to escape being 

 wet. I was afterwards informed by the late Mr. Eobert Kennicott that his 

 experience in regard to the nests of these birds had been invariably the 

 same. Dr. P. K. Hoy, of Racine, is confident that these birds in Wisconsin 

 never nest on the ground, or else very rarely, as he has never noticed their 

 doing so. He writes that during one season he visited and made notes of 

 nineteen different nests. Ten of these were built in gooseberry-bushes, four 

 on thorn-bushes, three among blackberry-brambles, one on a raspberry-bush, 

 and one on a wild rose. None were within a foot of the ground, and some 

 were six feet from it. They have two broods in a season. 



On the other hand, Mr. Ridgway informs me that in Southern Illinois the 

 nest of this species is always placed on the ground, usually in a meadow, and 

 that he has never found its nest placed anywhere else than on the ground, in 

 a tuft of grass or clover. Professor Baird has had a similar experience in 

 Pennsylvania. Mr. B. P. Goss found them nesting both in bushes and on 

 the ground at Neosho Falls, Kansas. 



The eggs of this species are of a uniform light blue color, similar in shade 

 to the eggs of the common Bluebird, as also to those of the Calamos'piza hi- 

 color. They vary considerably in size, the smallest measuring .80 of an inch 

 in length by .60 in breadth, while the larger and more common size is .90 by 

 .70 of an inch. 



Euspiza toxpnsendi, Bonap. 



TOWNSEND'S BUNTING. 



Emberiza townsendi, Auu. Orn. Biog. II, 18.34, 183 ; V, 90, \A. cccc. — Ib. Syn. 1839. — 

 Ib. Birds Am. Ill, 1841, 62, pi. clvii. — Nuttall, Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 528. Euspiza 

 townsendi, Bon. List, 1838. — Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858,' 495. 



Sp. Char. Male. Upper parts, head and neck all round, sides of body and forepart of 

 breast, slate-blue ; the back and upper surface of wings tinged with yellowish-brown ; the 



