THE YELLOW-WINGED SPARROW. 305 



than ijie middle^toe ; the lateral toes equal, and with their claws falling decidedly 

 short of the middle claw ; the hind toe intermediate between the two ; the wings are 

 short and rounded, reaching to the base of the tail ; the tertiaries almost as long as 

 the primaries; not much difference in the lengths of the primaries, although the 

 outer three or four are slightly graduated ; the tail is short and narrow, decidedly 

 shorter than the wing, graduated laterally, but slightly emarginate; the feathers all 

 lanceolate and acute, but not stiffened, as in Ammodromus. 



The upper parts generally are streaked ; the blotches on the interscapular region 

 very wide ; the breast and sides are generally streaked more or less distinctly ; the 

 edge of the wing is yellow. 



COTURNICULUS PASSERINUS. Bonaparte. 

 The Yellow-winged Sparrow. 



Fringilla passerina, Wilson. Am. Orn., III. (1811) 76. Aud. Orn. Biog., II. 

 (1834) 180; V. 497. 



Coturniculus passerina, Bonaparte. List (1838). 



Fringilla Savanarum (Gmelin), Nuttall. Man., I. (1832) 494. Ib. (2d ed., 

 1840), 570. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Feathers of the upper parts brownish-rufous, margined narrowly and abruptly 

 with ash-color; reddest on the lower part of the back and rump; the feathers all 

 abruptly black in the central portion ; this color visible on the interscapular region, 

 where the rufous is more restricted; crown blackish, with a central and superciliary 

 stripe of yellowish tinged with brown, brightest in front of the eye ; bend of the 

 wing bright-yellow; lesser coverts tinged with greenish-yellow; quills and tail 

 feathers edged with whitish; tertiaries much variegated; lower parts brownish- 

 yellow, nearly white on the middle of the belly; the feathers of the upper breast 

 and sides of the body with obsoletely darker centres. 



Length, about five inches; wing, two and forty one-hundredths inches; tail, two 

 inches. 



The young of this species has the upper part of the breast streaked with black, 

 much more distinct than in the adult, and exhibiting a close resemblance to C. Hens- 

 lorn. 



Specimens from the Far West have the reddish of the back considerably paler ; 

 the light stripe on the head, with scarcely any yellow; a decided spot in front 

 of the eye quite yellow. 



This bird is irregularly distributed. In Massachusetts it 

 is rare near the seacoast, but in the western part is an 

 " abundant summer visitant ; arrives about the first week 

 in May, and leaves in autumn the earliest of the Sparrows." 

 ALLEN. It is not included in Mr. Yen-ill's list of Maine 

 birds ; and I have never met with it in that State or the 

 other two northern ones, although it probably occurs there, 



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