OF NEW ENGLAND. 189 
rocks, and are not naturally shy. They occur in Massachu- 
setts as rare winter-visitors only, and as occasional stragglers 
in large flocks of Snow Buntings or Sbore Larks, though, says 
Mr. Maynard, *‘common on the Ipswich Sand-hills.” They 
frequent almost exclusively the coast or the lands near it, 
feeding on seeds and small shell-fish. They run nimbly, fly 
swiftly, and chiefly affect the ground, but occasionally perch 
in trees. 
(d). They have a shrill chirr, and a rather melancholy call 
of two syllables. Their song is said to be simple but sweet, 
with their call-notes often introduced. 
VII. CHONDESTES, 
(A) Grammaca. Lark Finch. 
(An inhabitant of the western United States, one, however, 
being ‘‘ taken in Gloucester, in 1845, by S. Jillson.”  ) 
(a). About 64 inches long. ‘Crown chestnut blackening 
on forehead, divided by a median stripe, and bounded by 
superciliary stripes, of white; a black line through eye, 
and another below eye, enclosing a white streak under the eye 
and the chestnut auriculars; next, a sharp black maxillary 
stripe not quite reaching the bill, cutting off a white stripe 
from the white chin and throat. A black blotch on middle of 
breast. Under parts white, faintly shaded with grayish-brown ; 
upper parts grayish-brown, the middle of the back with fine 
black streaks. ‘Tail very long, its central feathers like the 
back, the rest jet-black, broadly tipped with pure white in 
diminishing amount from the lateral pair inward, and the outer 
web of the outer pair entirely white.” (Dr. Coues.) 
(b). The nest of these birds is most often built upon the 
ground. ‘*The maximum number of their eggs” says *Dr. 
Brewer ‘‘is five. Their average measurement is °85 by °65 of 
an inch. The ground-color is usually a grayish-white, rarély 
a light brown, marbled and streaked with waving lines,.and a 
few dots of black or a blackish-brown.” 
59 Maynard, Naturalist’s Guide, p.112. Gloucester is on the coast of Massachu- 
setts, north of Boston. 
