BIRDS OF NEW YORK 335 



county, in 1883; and during the summer of 1875 a pair reared their young 

 at Junius, Seneca county. They returned the next season and a pair of 

 the birds was collected and preserved by Mr C. J. Hampton, the male 

 now being in the Hobart College collection. This is evidently the last 

 instance of the Dickcissel breeding in New York State. Mr Todd, in the 

 " Birds of Erie," reports it, however, as a rare summer resident in north- 

 western Pennsylvania as late as June 14, 1895. There is a bare possibility 

 that this species will become reestablished, at least in western New York, 

 but as far as I can learn there is at present no indication that it is moving 

 to the eastward as the Lark sparrow and the Prairie horned lark have 

 done. 



Haunts and habits. The Dickcissel is a bird of the grassy field, pre- 

 ferring prairies and weed fields, usually occupying a low perch on some 

 stalk or fence post, singing his simple song with great earnestness, the 

 notes of which have given him his common name throughout the country 

 which he inhabits. The nest is placed upon the ground, or near it in 

 a thick bush, and is composed of coarse weed stalks, grasses and leaves, 

 lined with finer grasses and horse hair. The eggs are 4 or 5 in number, 

 of a pale blue, without spots, and average .80 by .61 inches in dimensions. 



Calamospiza melanocorys Stejneger 



Lark Banting 



Calamospiza melanocorys vStejneger. Auk. Jan. 1885. 2 : 49 



A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 3. 1910. p. 288. 



No. 605 



calamospiza. Or., xi\j.\xoc,, a reed, and u-t'Cx, a finch; melanocorys, from Or., 

 meaning " black-hehneted " 



Description. Adult male: Uniform black with a slaty cast; the wing 

 coverts white forming a conspicuous wing patch. Female: Brownish gray 

 streaked with dusky; a small white wing patch; lower parts white streaked 

 with dusky on the breast and side. Male in winter: vSimilar to adult 

 female but the under plumage of the abdomen showing black when dis- 

 arranged. Young: Similar to adult female but more buffy. 



Length 6.3-7.5 inches; wing 3.2-3.6; tail 2.9-3.3. 



