548 



NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



varied several times in a very remarkable manner. In Massachusetts I have 

 known this species to have its complement of eggs by the 15th of April. 



The eggs of this species are usually five, often four, and rarely six in 

 number. They are of an oblong-oval shape, the smaller end but slightly 

 more pointed than the other. Tliey vary greatly in size, ranging from .90 to 

 .80 of an inch in length, and averaging about .65 in breadth. Their ground- 

 color is a pale greeuish-wliite, marked with spots, lines, dots, and blotclies 

 of various shades of reddish and purplish brown. In some eggs the spots 

 are few and small, chiefly confluent in a ring about the larger end, wliile the 

 ground-color is very plainly distinguishable. In others the ground is nearly 

 concealed by the abundance of the spots. 



Cotuniieuliis passeriniis 



Gexus COTURNICULUS, Boxap. 



Coturniculus, Box.\p. Geog. List, 1838. (Type, Fringilla passerina, Wils.) 



Gex. Char. Bill very large and stout, (except in C lecontei) ; the under mandible 



broader, but lower than the upper, which is deci- 

 dedly convex at the basal portion of its upper 

 outline. Legs moderate, apparently not reaching 

 to the end of the tail. The tarsus appreciably 

 longer than the middle toe ; the lateral toes equal, 

 and with their claws falling decidedly short of the 

 middle claw ; the hind toe intermediate between 

 the two. The wings are short and rounded, 

 reaching to the base of the tail ; the tertiaries 

 almost as long as the primaries ; not much differ- 

 ence in length in the primaries, although the 

 outer three or four are slightly graduated. The 

 tail is short and narrow, shorter than the wing 

 (except in C. Jecontei), graduated laterally, but slightly emarginate ; the feathers all lanceo- 

 late and acute, but not stiffened, as in Ammodromus. 



This genus agrees with Passerculus in the short and narrow tail. The 

 wings are much shorter and more rounded ; the feet shorter, especially the 

 middle toe, which is not as long as the tarsus. The tail-feathers are more 

 lanceolate. The bill is much larger, and more swollen at the base. 



The essential characters of this genus consist in the swollen convex bill ; 

 ■ the short toes, compared with the tarsus ; the short and rounded wings ; and 

 the very small, narrow, slightly graduated tail, with its lanceolate acute 

 feathers (except in the South American C. manimhe). 



In some respects tliere is a resemblance to Ammodromus, in which, how- 

 ever, the bill is very much more slender ; the wings still shorter, and more 

 rounded ; the tail-feathers much stiffer, and even more lanceolate ; the toes 

 extending beyond the tip of the tail ; the middle toe rather longer than the 

 tarsus, instead of considerably shorter. 



C. lecontei has the same general form, but a much smaller bill. 



