OF NEW ENGLAND. 



195 



XI. PASSERCULUS 



(A) PRINCEPS. Ipswich Sparrow. 



(A northern species, but lately discovered, reaching New 

 England in winter.) 



(a). Mr. Maynard describes as follows the first specimen 

 obtained (though the italicizing is my own) : "Back grayish ; 

 the middle of the feathers having a black centre edged with 

 rufous. Top of head streaked with dusky and pale rufous, 

 divided by a broad stripe of pale yellowish white. There is also 

 a whitish superciliary stripe extending from the base of the 

 bill to the back of the head. Ear-coverts grayish, with a 

 rufous tinge." (Description of wings here omitted.) White 

 wing-bars "rather indistinct." "Tail brownish, with the tips of 

 the feathers and terminal half of the outer web of the outer tail- 

 feathers pale yellowish white; the rest of the tail-feathers nar- 

 rowly edged with the same. Under parts, including under 

 tail-coverts, pure white. Feathers of the sides of the throat, 

 with a broad band across the breast and sides, streaked with 

 rufous, with dusky centres. The throat is indistinctly spotted 

 with dusky. A triangular spot on the sides of the neck, below 

 the ear-coverts, pale buff; ears dusky. Bill dark brown, with 

 the base of the under mandible paler. Eyes and feet brown." 

 Length, six inches (or more). 



(c). That I may do full honor to Mr. Maynard, as the dis- 

 coverer of a bird, not before described, in a country well popu- 

 lated by naturalists of all sorts, I shall here transcribe at 

 length his own remarks about the Ipswich Sparrow, which he 

 at first erroneously supposed to be the Baird's Sparrow, 63 Pro- 

 fessor Baird having pronounced it to be that species. This 

 mistake, however excusable on the part of the latter gentle- 

 man, who is ranked as the foremost of American naturalists, 



63 Until within the last two or three years this latter bird, a species confined to 

 the western United States, was known to ornithologists by one specimen only, one 

 of those shot by Audubon " upon the banks of the Yellowstone River, July 26, 

 1843." Lately others have been shot, and their habits studied in northern Dakota. 



