THE SAVANNAH SPARROW. 301 



Suh-Family Spizellin^. — The Sparrows. 



Bill variable, usually almost straight ; sometimes curved ; commissure generally 

 nearly straight, or slightly concave; upper mandible wider than lower; nostrils 

 exposed; wings moderate; the outer primaries not much rounded; tail variable; 

 feet large; tarsi mostly longer than the middle toe. 



The species are usually small, and of dull color. Nearly all are streaked on the 

 back and crown ; often on the belly. None of the United-States species have anj' 

 red, blue, or orange ; and the yellow, when present, is as a superciliary streak, or on 

 the elbow edge of the wing. 



PASSERCULUS, Bonaparte. 



Passerculus, Bonapartk, Comp. List Birds (1838). (Type Fringilla Savanna.) 

 Bill moderately conical; the lower mandible smaller; both outlines nearly 

 straight; tarsus about equal to the middle toe; lateral toes about equal, their claws 

 falling far short of the middle one; hind toe much longer than the lateral ones, 

 reaching as far as the middle of the middle claw; its claws moderately curved; 

 wings unusually long, reaching to the middle of the tail, and almost to the end of the 

 upper coverts; the tertials nearly or quite as long as the primaries; the first primary 

 longest; the tail is quite short, considerably shorter than the wings, as long as 

 from the carpal joint to the end of the secondaries; it is emarginate, and slightly 

 rounded; the feathers pointed and narrow. 



Entire plumage above, head, neck, back, and rump, streaked; thickly streaked 

 beneath. 



PASSEECULUS ZkYk^^k.— Bonaparte. 



The Savannah Sparrow. 



Fringilla Savanna, Wilson. Am. Orn., III. (1811) 55. Aud. Om. Biog., II. 

 (1834) 63; V. (1839), 516. 



Passerculus Savanna, Bonaparte. List (1838). 



Description. 



Feathers of the upper parts generally with a central streak of blackish-brown; 

 the streaks of the back with a slight rufous suffusion laterally; the feathers edged 

 with gray, which is lightest on the scapulars; crown with a broad median stripe of 

 yellowish-gray; a superciliary streak from the bill to the back of the head, eyelids, 

 and edge of the elbow, yellow; a yellowish-white maxillary stripe curving behind 

 the ear coverts, and margined above and below by brown ; the lower margin is a 

 series of thickly crowded spots on the sides of the throat, which are also found on 

 the sides of the neck, across the upper part of the breast, and on the sides of the 

 body; a few spots on the throat and chin; rest of under parts white; outer tail 

 feather and primary edged with white. 



Length, five and fifty one-hundredths inches; wing, two and seventy one-hun- 

 iredths inches; tail, two and ten one-hundredths inches. 



