252 FRINGILLID^E I FINCHES. 



the Alleghanian as well as of the Carolinian Fauna, 

 it will hereafter be detected on the shores of New 

 Hampshire, and even of southern Maine thus actual- 

 ly verifying a record which originated in error. We 

 have already witnessed the Connecticut status of the 

 bird, in citing Mr. Merriam's remarks in the last 

 article ; and Mr. Purdie has given us other observa- 

 tions in the American Naturalist (vii, 1873, p. 118). 

 For Massachusetts, Dr. Brewer has furnished authen- 

 tic and perhaps the first definite information, in re- 

 cording the capture of a specimen by Mr. George 

 O. Welch, at Nahant, in August, 1877 (Bull. Nutt. 

 Club, Hi, Jan., 1878, p. 48). Allen considers it "rare 

 or accidental in the salt marshes along the coast" of 

 that State, quoting Dr. Brewer's qase as the only one 

 on record. Its habits are practically identical with 

 those of the Sharp tailed Sparrow, and neither the 

 nest nor the eggs can be distinguished with certainty 

 from those of the latter, though there are some slight 

 differences, appreciable by a practised field-naturalist. 



LINCOLN'S SPARROW. 

 MELOSPIZA LINCOLNI (Aud.) Bd. 



Chars. Below, white, with a definite belt of brownish-yellow across 

 the breast, a wash of the same color along the sides, the whole 

 under parts, excepting the belly, fully streaked with dusky. Up- 

 per parts like those of a Song Sparrow grayish-brown, the 

 crown and back with dusky, brown, and gray streaks ; tail gray- 

 ish-brown, the feathers usually with dark longitudinal shaft-lines ; 

 wings similar, without such shaft-lines, the coverts and secon- 

 daries blackish, with bay and whitish edgings. No yellow any- 

 where. Length, about 5.50 ; wing and tail, each, about 2.50. 



