} 
; 
THE SAVANNAH SPARROW. 301 
 Sub-Family SpizeLiine.— The Sparrows. 
Bill variable, usually almost straight; sometimes curved; commissure generally 
nearly straight, or slightly concave; upper mandible wider than lower; nostrils 
exposed; wings moderate; the outer primaries not much rounded ; tail variable; 
feet large; tarsi mostly longer than the middle toe. 
The species are usually small, and of dull color. Nearly all are streaked on the 
back and crown; often on the belly. None of the United-States species have any 
red, blue, or orange; and the yellow, when present, is as a superciliary streak, or on 
the elbow edge of the wing. 
PASSERCULUS, BonAPARTE. 
Passerculus, BoNAPARTE, Comp. List Birds (1888). (Type Fringilla Savanna.) 
Bill moderately conical; the lower mandible smaller; both outlines nearly 
straight; tarsus about equal to the middle toe; lateral toes about equal, their claws 
falling far short of the middle one; hind toe much longer than the lateral ones, 
reaching as far as the middle of the middle claw; its claws moderately curved; 
wings unusually long, reaching to the middle of the tail, and almost to the end of the 
upper coverts; the tertials nearly or quite as long as the primaries; the first primary 
longest; the tail is quite short, considerably shorter than the wings, as long as 
from the carpal joint to the end of the secondaries; it is emarginate, and slightly 
rounded; the feathers pointed and narrow. 
Entire plumage above, head, neck, back, and rump, streaked ; thickly streaked 
beneath. ; 
PASSERCULUS SAVANNA. — Bonaparte. 
The Savannah Sparrow. 
Fringilla Savanna, Wilson. Am. Orn., III. (1811) 55. Aud. Orn. Biog., Il. 
(1834) 63; V. (1839), 516. 
Passerculus Savanna, Bonaparte. List (1838). 
DESCRIPTION. 
Feathers of the upper parts generally with a central streak of blackish-brown; 
the streaks of the back with a slight rufous suffusion laterally; the feathers edged 
with gray, which is lightest on the scapulars; crown with a broad median stripe of 
yellowish-gray; a superciliary streak from the bill to the back of the head, eyelids, 
and edge of the elbow, yellow; a yellowish-white maxillary stripe curving behind 
the ear coverts, and margined above and below by brown; the lower margin is a 
series of thickly crowded spots on the sides of the throat, which are also found on 
the sides of the neck, across the upper part of the breast, and on the sides of the 
body; a few spots on the throat and chin; rest of under parts white; outer tail 
feather and primary edged with white. 
Length, five and fifty one-hundredths inches; wing, two and seventy one-hun- 
4redths inches; tail, two and ten one-hundredths inches. 
