578 



NOimi AMWIiKJAN lUKDA 



This species has a considerably larger bill tliaii Z. lenvophrjis, the mandible 

 csiiccially. 



Hahits. This species was first described in 1840, by Mr. Nuttall, from 

 specimens obtained liy him near Independence, Mo., near tlie close of the 

 month of April. He again mot with them on tlie following oth of May, 

 wlien not far from the banks of the Little Vermilion Kiver, a brancli of the 

 Kansas. He found them frequenting tiiickets, and uttering, cliieHy in tlie 

 early morning, but also occasionally at other parts of the day, a long, drawling, 

 faint, solemn, and monotonous succession of notes, re.semliling te-de-de-de. 



Since tlien but little additional information lias been obtained in regard to 

 their general habits, their geographical distriljution, or their mode of breeding, 

 single specimens only having been taken at considerable intervals in tlie 

 valley of the Missouri and elsewhere until 1872. Two specimens were se- 

 cured by Mr. Dresser, near San Antonio, in Western Texas, occurring on the 

 Medina River during their spring migrations. More lecently this bird was 

 taken twice by Mr. H. W. Parker, in Jasper County, Iowa. The latest of 

 these was secured jNIay 19. 



Professor F. H. Snow, in his List of Kansas Birds, published April, 1872, 

 enumerates this s])ecies as a bird frequently taken in Kansas in the winter, 

 and probably resident ; and Mr. J. A. Allen (American Naturalist, May, 

 1872) states that Harris's Finch was, next to the Cardinal, the most abundant 

 species of the family of Sparrows and Finches in the vicinity of Leaven- 

 worth, as it was also one of the largest and handsomest. He found it almost 

 exclusively frequenting the damper parts of the woods, associating with the 

 White-throated Sjtarrow, much resembling it both in habits and in song. 

 Nothing has so far been published respecting the nest and egg.s. 



Genus JTJNCO, Wag leu. 



Junto, Waolkh, Isis, 1831. (Type, Frimjilla cincmi, Sw.) 

 NiphoM, ArouDUN, Syii. 1839. (Type, Emberiza hycmnlin, 0.\i.) 



(!i;n. Char. Bill .small, oonical ; culiiieu curvud at tlie tip ; th<' lower jaw (piite as high 



lis till' iipiHT. Tarsus longer than the 

 middle tue ; outer toe longer than the 

 inner, l>arely rcaehing to the hase of the 

 middle claw ; hind toe reaching as Tar as 

 the middle of the latter; extended toes 

 reaching al)ont to the micldlo of the tail. 

 Wings rather .short; reaching over the 

 basal fourth of the exposed surfiiec of 

 the tail; primaries, however, considera- 

 bly longer than the secondaries and ter- 

 tial.s, which are nearly equal. The second 

 <iuill longest, the third to fifth succes,sive- 

 ly but little shorter ; first longer than 



32.111 3 



Jimco ongimus 



.sixth, much exceeding secondaries. Tail moderate, a little .shorter than the wings ; slightly 



