PLECTROPHANES. 315 



pale reddish brown. The secondaries and coverts 

 are of a darker tint, broadly edged with chestnut, 

 and the shoulders are nearly entirely of that 

 colour. The centre tail feathers are grayish 

 brown, paler on the edges, the others black, the 

 two exterior ones with white running diagonally 

 from the base to the tip of the inner web. The 

 breast and flanks are grayish white, the feathers 

 of the sides of the breast and flanks streaked along 

 the centre with brownish black ; belly, vent, and 

 under tail coverts pure white. In the female, 

 shades of brown and chestnut predominate over 

 the black. There is no black or white on the 

 head, the place of that colour being indicated by 

 a darker chestnut ; from each eye and over the 

 auriculars there is a pale reddish white streak. 

 The upper parts are reddish brown, varied by- 

 the dark centres of the feathers, and on the 

 breast and flanks the colour is pale yellowish 

 brown, shading into white on the centre of the 

 belly, and streaked along the feathers of the 

 breast and flanks with chestnut red. 



Our next form is one previously associated 

 with the Buntings, but lately placed with a few 

 others into a separate genus, standing inter- 

 mediate between the true Buntings and Larks. 

 It has been designated Plectrophanes or Lark 

 Bunting. In habits the birds differ from the 

 Buntings, in keeping constantly upon the ground, 

 being possessed of very ample powers of flight, 

 and in being mostly gregarious. The bill in form 



