144 BAY-BIRDS. 
insects, mostly grasshoppers, on which it feeds ; and 
when killed it constitutes a prime delicacy for the 
table, and brings a high price in market. It passes 
to the northward in the latter part of April, and re- 
turns in the early part of September. Its general 
color on the back is greenish, and it has a distinet 
light stripe alongside of the eye. They often con- 
gregate in immense numbers, and I have certainly 
seen a thousand in a flock. 
“ Specific Character.—Bill rather slender; along 
the gap one inch and an eighth; tarsi one and nine- 
sixteenths. Adult with the bill black, much slighter 
than C. helveticus ; forehead, and a band over the eye, 
extending behind the eye, white ; upper parts, includ- 
ing the crown, brownish-black, the feathers marked 
with spots of golden yellow and dull white; quills 
and coverts dark greyish-brown; secondaries paler 
—the inner margined with yellowish-white; tail 
feathers greyish-brown, barred with paler, the central 
with dull yellow; shafts of the wing quills white 
towards the end, which, with their bases, are dark 
brown ; lower parts brownish-black, though in gene- 
ral we find them mottled with brown, dull white, and 
black ; lower tail-coverts white, the lateral marked 
with black ; feet bluish-grey. Late in autumn, the 
golden markings on the upper parts are not so dis- 
tinct, and the lower parts are greyish-blue. Length, 
ten inches and a half, wing seven and one-eighth.” — 
Giraud. 
