Plate XLVIII. 



Fig 2. POCECETES GRAMINEUS-Grass Finch. 



The Bay-winged Bunting, or Grass-finch, is one of the commonest birds of the State. It arrives 

 about the 1st of April, and remains until November, or later. During the summer it frequents 

 pastures and poorly cultivated fields, especially fields of grass and clover. It is often seen feeding along the 

 public road or wallowing in the dust. It may always be easily recognized by the one or more wholly or 

 partly white feathers upon either side of its tail. These feathers are very conspicuous when the bird 

 flies, and afford a ready means of distinguishing it at a distance from other species which it closely re- 

 sembles in sizo and general color. The nest is built in May for the first brood and in July for the second. 



LOCALITY : 



The locality chosen for the nest is generally a barren field, with here and there little clumps of grass 

 or weeds. Both high lands and low lands are frequented. Occasionally, the nest is placed in the border of 

 a wood or even along a road side. 



POSITION : 



The nest is always situated upon the ground in a slight concavity, usually unprotected by any 

 vegetation ; but sometimes it is built at the root of a thistle or other weed, and, rarely, is in a little bunch 

 of grass or among straggling stems of clover. The concavity is generally a natural one. The bird may 

 scratch it out some and smooth it, but she rarely if ever makes the entire excavation. The rim of the 

 nest is usually but little above the surrounding ground. 



MATERIALS : 



The nest is a very simple affair. The foundation and superstructure consist chiefly of a few weed- 

 stems, grasses, straws, and rootlets, entwined and matted together, and the lining is made of a few grasses, 

 rootlets, and horse-hairs. The average diameter of the cavity is about two and seven-eighths inches, its depth 

 about three quarters of an inch: the external diameter is generally about four and one-half or five inches. 



A nest before me is composed as follows: The foundation consists of rather coarse weed-stems and 

 weed-rootlets, loosely arranged in the concavity and most abundant about the periphery. Next is a compact 

 layer about three-eighths of an inch thick of dead and blackened blades of blue-grass mixed with a few 

 weed-stems. This makes up the bulk of the nest. The lining is composed of a few white horse-hairs 

 and a few very fine whitish rootlets, arranged circularly. The entire nest just as lifted from its 

 position weighs only one half an ounce. The nests which I have observed have not varied much from 

 the one described. The materials of course vary somewhat with locality and individual fancy, hut 

 there is much uniformity in structure as a whole. 



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