FRINGILLID^ — THE FINCHES. 551 



were in great numbers in all the pine barrens of that State, in light and 

 sanely soil, and in woods but thinly overgrown by tall pines. They never 

 alight on trees, but sjiend their time on the ground, running with great ra- 

 pidity through the grass, in the manner of a mouse. 



In New Jersey they were Ibund in ploughed fields, where they are pre- 

 sumed to have been overlooked and mistaken for the Yellow-winged Spar- 

 row. ]\Ir. Audubon supposed that they were not found fartlier eastward 

 tlian that State. 



Specimens in the Smithsonian collection liave l)een procured in Geoigia 

 in ] December; in Maryland in July; at Fort liiley, Kansas, Southern Illi- 

 nois, and in Nebraska, in June. 



In Massachusetts they are regular summer visitants, though as yet they 

 have been met with in only a few instances and in a somewhat restricted 

 locality. They are now met with nearh^ every year, and several nests have 

 been taken. Mr. Maynard obtained two specimens, JMay 10, in a wet 

 meadow in Newton. Their song-note he describes as like the syllables sce- 

 wicl', the first syllable prolonged, the latter given quickly. This bird was 

 first obtained in Berlin, in that State, by Mr. E. S. Wheeler, who discovered 

 its nest and eggs. It was mistaken for Bachman's Finch, and was at first 

 so placed on the record, though the error was immediately corrected. Since 

 then, in that town, and in one or two others in its neighborhood, other nests 

 have been met with. ]\Ir. William Brewster obtained several specimens in 

 Lexington, May 14, 1872. It is quite probable that it has been confounded 

 with C. jiasserinus, and it is now supposed to be more common in the eastern 

 part of tlie State than that bird. 



One specimen of this Bunting was taken near Washington, during the 

 summer season, from which circumstance Dr. Coues gives it as an exceed- 

 ingly rare summer resident of the District of Columbia. 



In 1871, jNIr. Bidgway ascertained that, so far irom being rare, Henslow's 

 Bunting is very abundant on the prairies of Southern Illinois, as well as the 

 Yellow-winged species, but far exceeding the latter in numbers. Though 

 entirely similar to that bird in habits and manners, it may be readily distin- 

 guished by its note, which is said to be an ?ihn\'pt pi/ -Int. much more like the 

 common summer-call of tlie Shore Lark than the lisped grasshopper-like 

 chirp of the C. fcisscrinus, and to be uttered as the bird perclies on the sum- 

 mit of a tall weed, tlie tail being depressed, and the head thrown back at 

 each utterance. A number of unidentified eggs were sent to me several 

 years since, by Mr. Ivennicott, from near Chicago. Tliey resembled some- 

 wliat the eggs of C. paHscrinufi, but were not the eggs of that species. I 

 have now no doubt tliev belonged to this bird. 



The nest is built in the ground, in a depression, or apparently an excava- 

 tiiui scratched out l)y the bird itself, and is a well-made structure of coarse, 

 dry, and soft reeds and grasses, well lined with finer materials of the same 

 description. The eggs, five or six in number, somewhat resemble those of 



