590 



NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



B. Throat white ; sides streaked. 



3. P. belli. No white superciliary stripe. A dusky spot in middle of 

 the breast. Upper parts ashy, concolored, with indistinct streaks on the 

 back. Wings somewhat more brownish, the coverts with two indistinct 

 light (not white) bands. 



a. Wing, 2.50; tail, 2.50; bill, .31 ; tarsus, .74. Dorsal streaks 



obsolete. Hab. California var. belli. 



/3. Wing, 3.20 ; tail, 3.20 ; bill, ;35 ; tarsus, .76. Dorsal streaks 

 distinct. Hab. Middle Province of United States. va,r. nevadens is. 



Poospiza bilineata, Sclater. 



BLACK-THROATED SPARROW. 



Emheriza bilineata, Cassin, Pr. A. N. Sc. Ph. V, Oct. 1850, 104, pi. iii, Texas. — Ib. 

 Illust. I, V, 1854, 150, pi. xxiii. Poospiza bilineata, ScLATER, Pr. Zobl. Soc. 1857, 7. 

 — Baiud, Bhds N. Am. 1858, 470. — Ib. Mex. Bound. II, Birds, 15. — Heerm. X, 

 c. 14. —Cooper, Oni. Cal. I, 1870, 203. 



Sp. Char. Above uniform unspotted ashy-gray, tinged with light brown ; purer and 

 more plumbeous anteriorly, and on sides of head and neck. Under parts white, tinged 



with plumbeous on the sides, and with 

 yellowish-brown about the thighs. A sharply 

 defined superciliary and maxillary stripe of 

 pure white, as also the lower eyelid, the 

 former margined internally with black. Loral 

 region black, passing insensibly into dark 

 slate on the ears. Chin and throat between 

 the white maxillary stripes black, ending on 

 the upper part of the breast in a rounded 

 outline. Tail black, the lateral feathers edged 

 externally and tipped on inner web with 

 white. Bill blue. Length, 5.40 ; wing, 2.75 ; 

 tail, 2.90. Sexes alike. 



Hab. Middle Province of United States- 

 north to 40°, between Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevada. (As far west as Janos and 

 the Mohave villages.) Mataraoras (rare at San Antonio; Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 488). 



This species in external form is very similar to P. helli, and will probably 

 fall in the same genus. The cutting edges of the bill are much inllexed. 

 The first quill is shorter than the sixth. The tail is a good deal rounded ; 

 the feathers broad. 



The white maxillary stripe does not come quite to the base of the under 

 jaw, which' there is black. There is a hoary tinge on tlie forehead. The 

 white superciliary stripes almost meet on the forehead. 



In the immature bird the throat is white with a dusky clouding along 

 each side ; the upper part of the breast streaked \vith brown. 



Habits. The Black-throated Sparrow, generically associated with Bell's 

 Finch, has several w^ell-marked distinctive peculiarities in habits. Their 

 eggs are also totally unlike those of the present species, being much more 



Poospiza bilineata. 



