458 BIRDS OF BRITISH GUIANA. 



Genus SPIZA Bonap. 



Spiza Bonaparte, Journ. Philad. Acad. iv. p. 4-5, 1824. Type S.ameri- 

 cana (Gmel.). 



Fig. 172. — Spiza americana. 



This monoiypic genus is easily distingiiisheJ by its square tail 

 with its obliquely-cut and pointed feathers. The bill is somewhat 

 stout and pointed, the depth and width at the base are about equal, 

 and is about three-fourths the length of the exposed culnieu. 

 The wing is rounded, the first, second, and third primaries are 

 longest and equal. The tail is square at the tip and about five- 

 eighths the length of the wing. The tarsus is about twice the 

 length of the exposed culmen. Coloration : male and female 

 similar. • 



639. Spiza americana. 

 Black-throated Bunting. 



Emherizn afnericana Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 872, 17S9 (New York). 

 Spiza americana Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xii. p. 770, 1S88 ; Brabourne 

 & Chubb, B. S. Amer. i. p. 375, no. 3853, 1912. 



Adult male. Crown of head dark yellowish green, witli minute 

 dark shaft-lines to the feathers ; hind-neck, sides of face, and 

 sides of neck slate-grey ; upper back biack with broad ash-brown 

 margins to the feathers becoming rufous-brown on the scapulars 

 Avhere the shaft lines are narrower; lower back, rump, and upper 

 tail-coverts dark earth-brown ; lesser and median u])per wing- 

 coverts chestnut; greater up})er wing-coverts and inner secon- 

 daries blackish broadly margined with rufous-brown ; bastard- 

 wing, primary-coverts, and flight-quills dark hair-brown, with 

 pale inner edgings to the last ; tail hair-brown ; lores, a line over 

 the eye, and cheeks yellow like the fore-neck and middle of the 

 breast ; short feathers under the eye, a line along the sides of the 



