A. CAUDACUTUS : SHARP-TAILED SPARROW. 247 



from observations made near Washington, D. C. 

 Henslovv's Buntings had scarcely been known in that 

 vicinity, where, however, this observer found them to 

 be very common and generally distributed, hearing 

 them singing in July in every weedy meadow through 

 which he passed. Eggs taken by Mr. Jouy, near 

 Washington, resemble those of the Yellow- winged 

 Sparrow, but are not purely white in ground-color, 

 having a faint though evident greenish tinge. The 

 nest containing them was built on the ground, in a tuft 

 of clover, and was neatly constructed, for a ground- 

 nest, having a well-turned brim, and being coherent 

 enough to remove without difficulty. It contained four 

 fresh eggs in June, measuring 0.75x0.60, 0.75x0.58, 

 0.75x0.56, 0.76x0.60. 



SHARP-TAILED SPARROW. 



AmMODRAMUS CAUDACUTUS {Gill.) Sw. 



Chars . Above, olive-gray, sharply streaked on the back with black- 

 ish and whitish ; crown darker than nape, with dusky streaks and 

 an obscure median line of paler color ; no decided yellow spot on 

 the lore, but long supraciliary line and sides of head rich buff or 

 orange-brown, enclosing dusky auriculars and a dark speck be- 

 hind these ; under parts whitish, before and along the sides 

 tinged with buff of variable intensity, continuous with that on the 

 sides of the head, the breast and sides sharply streaked with black- 

 ish. Edge of the wings yellow. Bill dark, extremely slender 

 and acute (for a Finch's); feet livid bluish. Length, 5.25-5.50; 

 wing, 2-25 ; tail, about 2.00, with narrowly lanceolate-acute feath- 

 ers ; bill, 0.50 ; tarsus, 0.80. 



The Sharp-tailed is the more abundant of the two 

 New England species of Ammodranius, and extends 



