BIRDS OF SPARROW-SIZE OR SMALLER. 



534. Snow Bunting — Plectrophenax nivalis 

 nivalis. 



Length 6% inches. 



Male -— Upperparts pale rusty brown; back 

 streaked with black; main wing-feathers mostly 

 blackish, inner ones white; tail black, marked 

 with white; underparts white; breast and sides 

 washed with rusty. Female — Similar, but wings 

 with the inner feathers tipped with rufous. 



A winter bird; in flocks, often numbering a 

 hundred or more; a bird of the open snowy fields. 

 Our onlv small, largely white bird; its usual note 

 is a real twitter. 



542a. Savannah Sparrow — Passerculus sand- 

 ixrichensis savanna. 



Small. Length 534 inches. 



Underparts white, heavily and nearly uniformly 

 streaked with blackish and rufous ; upperparts 

 brownish black, streaked; tail blackish, with nar- 

 row margin of whitish; pale yellow before or ovei 

 eye and on bend of wine. 



A bird of the open fields, easy to pass unnoticed, 

 or to mistake for the Ye -per Sparrow. The song, 

 however, readily identifies the bird, tho (or 

 rather because) it is a low simple insect-like frill; 

 it is somewhat like the song of the following 

 species. From the Vesper Sparrow the Savannah 

 is to be known by its smaller size, less white in the 

 tail and absence of rufous on the wing-coverts; it 

 is larger and longer of tail than the Grasshopper 

 Sparrow. 



546. Grasshopper Sparrow — Ammodramus 

 savannarum austral is. 



Small. Length 5-yg inches. 



Breast and sides buffy; belly white; upperparts 

 mixed black, brownish, ashy and buffy; crown 



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