590 



NORTH AMJ^llICAN BIRDS. 



B« Throat wliite; sides stresikod. 



',]. P. belli. Xo white sii{)en'ili.irv stripe. A dusky spot in middle of 

 the lireast. Upper parts ashy, eoncolored, with iiuhstinct streaks on the 

 Imck. Wings somewhat more brownisli, the coverts with two inihstinet 

 h<,dit (not white) hands. 



a. Wing, 2.r)0; tail, 2.50; bill, .31 ; tarsus, .74. Dorsal streaks 

 obsolete. Hah. California. ...... var. belli. 



8. Wing, :J,20 ; tail, ;}.20 ; bill, .35 ; tarsus, .76. Dorsal streaks 

 distinct. Hub. Middle Province of United States. \av. n e vadensis. 



Poospiza bilineata, Sclater. 



BLACX-THROATED SPABBOW. 



Eidhcriza bilineata, Cansix, Pr. A. X. Sc. Th. V, Got. 1850, 104, pi. iii, Texas. — Ib. 

 Illust. I, V, 1854, 150, pi. xxiii. Poospiza bilineata, Sclateii, Pr. Zool. Soc. 1857, 7. 

 — Baiud, IJirds X. Am. 1858, 470. — Ib. Mex. Bomid. II, Buds, 15. — Hekum. X, 

 c. 14. — Cooi'EU, Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 203. 



Sp. Char. Above uniform unspotted ashy-gray, tinged with light brown ; purer and 

 more plumbeous anteriorly, and on sides of head and ne<'k. Under parte? white, linged 



with plumbeous on the sides, and with 

 yellowish-brown about the thighs. A sharply 

 defined superciliary and maxillary stripe of 

 pure white, as also the lower eyelid, the 

 former margined internally with black. Loral 

 region i)lack, passing insensibly into dark 

 slate on the ears. Chin .ind throat between 

 the white maxillary stripes black, ending on 

 the upper part of tlic breast in a rounded 

 outline, '''.til black, the lateral feathers edgetl 

 exter, id tipped on inner web with 



white. 1' ill blue. Length, 5.40 ; wing, 2.75 ; 

 tail, 2.90. Sexes alike. 



Hab. Middle Province of United States 

 north to 40°, l»etween Rocky Mountains and Sierra Xevada. (As fiir west as Janos and 

 the Mohave villages.) Matamoras (rare at San Antonio; Dresser, Ibis, 1805, 488). 



This specit^s in external form is very similar to P. hclli, and will probably 

 fall in the same jijenus. The cuttinj]j edt^'es of the bill are much intlexed. 

 The first quill is shorter than the sixth. The tail is a good deal rounded ; 

 the feathers broad. 



The white maxillary stripe does not come ijuite to the base of the under 

 jaw, which there is black. There is a hoary tinge on the forehead. The 

 white superciliary stripes almost meet on the forehead. 



In the immature bird the throat is white with a dusky clouding along 

 each side ; the upper part of the breast streaked with brown. 



Habits. The Black-throated Sparrow, generically associated with lull's 

 Finch, has several well-marked distinctive peculiarities in habits. Their 

 eggs fire also totally unlike those of the present species, being much more 



Poospiza bilineata. 



