PASSERES — FRINGILLIDiE — AMMODRAMUS. 163 



GENUS AMMODRAMUS. Swainson. 



Bill rather slender, somewhat compressed, with a slight notch near the tip, which is deflected. 

 Nostrils small, elliptical, basal, partially concealed. Toes rather long; hind toe large. 

 Claws long, tapering, little arched, much compressed, laterally grooved. Wings short 

 and rounded ; the second, third and fourth quills longest. Tail graduated, and composed 

 of narrow acuminate feathers. 



THE SEASIDE FINCH. 



Ammodramtjs maritimus. 



plate lxvii. fig. 153. 



(STATE COLLECTION.) 



Fringilla maritima. Wilson, Am. Orn, Vol. 4. p. 68, pi. 34, fig. 2. 



Passerina maritima. VlEILLOT, Diet. Sc. 



F. (Spiza) id. Bonaparte, Ann. Lye. N. Y. Vol. 2, p. 110. Audubon, fol. pi. 93. 



F. id. Nuttall, Man. Orn. Vol. 1, p. 110. Peabody, Mass. Rep. p. 326. (  



Ammodramus id. Audubon, B. of A. Vol. 3, p. 103, pi. 172. 



A. id., Grey Shore Finch. GiBAUD, Birds of Long island, p. 112. 



Characteristics. Plain olive brown above. Streak over the eye, and on the shoulders, 

 greenish yellow. Rump slate blue. Stripe beneath the eye cream or 

 white. Chin and vent white. Breast and flanks mottled grey and 

 brown. Length, 8 inches. 



Description. Upper mandible stouter and more incurved than in the following species, 0'6 

 long, strongly carinate and distinctly notched. Hind claw 0'35, and longer than the toe. 

 First and sixth primaries equal ; third and fourth subequal, longest. Tail 2 ' 1 long, and 

 extending 1 * 6 beyond the tips of the closed wings. 



Color. Wings uniform wood-brown ; the outer webs of the quills olivaceous, as are also 

 the tail-feathers. On the back, the feathers are brown in the centre. Ear-feathers and borders 

 of the white chin dull ash. The yellow line from the base of the bill over the eye becomes 

 greenish and obsolete beyond it. The under side is not streaked as in the following, but is 

 occasionally obscurely mottled with greyish brown and white, with a faint rufous tinge on the 

 sides. 



Length, 7-0- 8*0. Alarextent, lO'O-ll'O. 



The Seaside Finch, as its name imports, is common along our maritime borders. It is 

 found during the summer in our salt marshes, where it breeds. The nest is on the ground, 

 containing from four to six greyish white eggs freckled with brown. It feeds chiefly on ma- 

 rine Crustacea, and such insects as resort to the seashore. It ranges along the coast to this 

 State, and a few are occasionally found on the shores of Massachusetts. 



21* 



