FINCHES. 201 



finer and fewer than those of passerinus^ and are distributed 

 more exclusively around the larger end. The eggs measure 

 .78X-60 of an inch, and are of a more oblong oval than those 

 of the common Yellow-wing." 



c. The Henslow's Buntings are very rare in Massachusetts, 

 though said by Mr. Maynard 78 to seem " more common at 

 some localities in the State than " their immediate relations, 

 the Yellow-winged Sparrows. Like these latter birds they 

 frequent fields (and chiefly, so far as my observations prove, 

 those which are dry or sandy),* and are always on or near the 

 ground. They feed on seeds and insects, and easily secure the 

 smaller beetles, etc., from the facility with which they run and 

 make their way among the weeds and grass. Mr. Maynard 79 

 has recorded that he " took two males in a wet meadow on May 

 10, 1867," whose "song-note" was "like the syllables 4 see- 

 wickj with the first prolongedly and the second quickly given." 

 I have seen the Henslow's Sparrows here only in May and the 

 warmer part of summer ; but, though Massachusetts is consid- 

 ered as their northern limit, I have suspicions, upon which I 

 shall not here enlarge, that they occur in at least one spot 

 among the White Mountains. I may add that this species was 

 at first recorded in this State, as Bachman's Finch (Peuccea 

 cestivalis), an error afterwards corrected. 



d. Mr. Ridgway, as quoted by Dr. Brewer, speaks of 

 " the tail being depressed, and the head thrown back at each 

 utterance " of their notes. 



XL PASSERCULUS.f 



A. PRINCEPS. Ipswich Sparrow. A northern species, 

 but lately discovered reaching New England in winter. $ 



78 As quoted by Mr. Allen in his J The Ipswich Sparrow breeds so 

 Notes on Some of the Rarer Birds of far as is known only on Sable Island, 

 Massachusetts, off Nova Scotia. In autumn it occurs 



* Their characteristic haunts in Mas- more or less commonly along practi- 



sachusetts, at least during the breeding- cally the entire coast of New England, 



season, are rather wet or at least A few birds reach Massachusetts by 



springy meadows. W. Be the middle of October, but the bulk of 



79 In his Naturalist's Guide, p. 117. the flight passes between the 25th of 

 t Now a subgenus of Ammodramus. that month and the 15th to the 20th of 



W. B. November. The return migration in 



