OF NEW ENGLAND. 189 



rocks, and are not naturally shy. They occur in Massachu- 

 setts as rare winter-visitors only, and as occasional stragglers 

 in large flocks of Snow Buntings or Shore Larks, though, says 

 Mr. Maynard, "common on the Ipswich Sand-hills." They 

 frequent almost exclusively the coast or the lands near it, 

 feeding on seeds and small shell-fish. They run nimbly, fly 

 swiftly, and chiefly affect the ground, but occasionally perch 

 in trees. 



(d). They have a shrill chirr, and a rather melancholy call 

 of two syllables. Their song is said to be simple but sweet, 

 with their call-notes often introduced. * 



VIII. CHONDESTES 



(A) GRAMMACA. Lark Finch. 



(An inhabitant of the western United States, one, however, 

 being "taken in Gloucester, in 1845, by S. Jillson." 59 ) 



(a). About 6 inches long. "Crown chestnut blackening 

 on forehead, divided by a median stripe, and bounded by 

 superciliary stripes, of white ; a black line through eye, 

 and another below eye, enclosing a white streak under the eye 

 and the chestnut auriculars ; next, a sharp black maxillary 

 stripe not quite reaching the bill, cutting off a white stripe 

 from the white chin and throat. A black blotch on middle of 

 breast. Under parts white, faintly shaded with grayish-brown ; 

 upper parts grayish-brown, the middle of the back with fine 

 black streaks. Tail very long, its central feathers like the 

 back, the rest jet-black, broadly tipped with pure white in 

 diminishing amount from the lateral pair inward, and the outer 

 web of the outer pair entirely white." (Dr. Coues.) 



(6). The nest of these birds is most often built upon the 

 ground. "The maximum number of their eggs" says Dr. 

 Brewer "is five. Their average measurement is *85 by -65 of 

 an inch. The ground-color is usually a grayish- white, rarely 

 a light brown, marbled and streaked with waving lines, and a 

 few dots of black or a blackish-brown." 



H> Maynard, Naturalist's Guide, p. 112. Gloucester is on the coast of Massachu- 

 setts, north of Boston. 



