212 VERTEBRATES I BIRDS. 



The Black-chinned Sparrow, 5. atrigularis, Baird, ol 

 Mexico near the Rio Grande, is five and a half inches 

 long, the wing two and a half inches. 



The Genus Melospiza has the bill conical, wings quite 

 short and rounded, tail graduated and the feathers oval at 

 the tips, tertiaries longer than the secondaries, the fourth 

 quill longest. The crown and back are similar in color 

 and streaked, the lower parts thickly streaked, and the 

 tail unspotted. 



Fig. 120. The Song-Sparrow, M. melo- 



dia, Baird, of the United States 

 east of the Rocky Mountains, 

 is six and a half inches long, 

 the wing over two and a half 

 inches ; the upper parts rufous 

 brown streaked with dark 

 brown and ashy gray. The 



Song-Sparrow, M. melodia, Baird. ^^ ^ ^^ ^ ^ ^^ 



and superciliary stripe of dull gray. The interscapular 

 region has the feathers dull brown in the centre, then 

 rufous, then grayish on the margin. There is a light 

 maxillary stripe bordered above and below by one of 

 dark rufous-brown, with a similar one from behind the 

 eye. The under parts are white, the breast and sides of 

 the body streaked with dark rufous, and on the middle 

 of the breast this color is concentrated into a spot. This 

 species builds both on the ground and on trees. The 

 nest is made of fine grass, lined with hair ; eggs three to 

 seven, light greenish-white, speckled with dark umber, 

 the specks larger towards the larger end. 



Heermann's Song-Sparrow, M. Heermanni, Baird, and 

 Gould's Song- Sparrow, M. Gouldii, Baird, inhabit Cali- 

 fornia. 



The Rusty Song'-Sparrow, M. rufina, Baird, of the Pa- 

 cific coast, is six and three quarter inches long, the wing 



