342 



5 YSTEMA TIC SYNOPSIS. — PA S SERES — OSCINES. 



Inner secondaries not enlarged ; wing (lecitlcilhj longer tban tail. 



Edge of wing and loral ypot yellow : breas^t burt"; wing under 2 50. (Eastern.) 



Coturtilculus 77 

 With i/fltow on breast, edge of wing, over eye ; black tbroat-patob or stripes. 



(Eastern. I Splza 88 



No yellow ; bead striped with black, wliite, and chestnut ; tail black, white-tipped. 



(Western.) Cliondestes 85 



No yellow ; wings (r7iiVt'-&rt7v-('</ ,■ throat black, cf. (Imported.) Passer 64 



Inner secondaries not enlarged ; wing not, or not decidedti/, longer than tail. 



Tail-feathers — very acute : bill — very slender. (Eastern, chiefly maritime. ) 



Animodraniu.'f 78 



— very stout. (Eastern, interior.) . .Coturniculus 77 

 — not acute ; tail — forked. Length 6.00 or less; no yellow on wing. 



(N. Am.) Spi-.ella 83 



— rounded — black: edge of wing yellowish. (West- 



ern.) Amplu.y}lza 81 



— not black. — Streaked below, or crown 



chestnut. (N. Am. ). . Melospiza 79 

 — not streaked below. (S. 



and W. U. S.) . Peucaa 80 

 OT {^ . Ava.) Zonotrichia 84 



*#* The commonest "sparrows" of Eastern U. S., which the student will be most likely to find first, belong 

 to the genera Passer, Spizella, Melospiza, Zonotrichia, Passerella, Passerculus, Poeecetes, Coturniculus (these 

 anywhere); Ammodramus (marshes only); common but more distinguished fringillines are Carpodacus, Asfra- 

 galinus, Chrysamitris, Passerina, Spiza, Plpilo, and Cardinalis. Winter visitors, in flocks, are Loxia, Pinicola, 

 Plectrophancs, Centrophanes , ^Egiothus, and Junco. 



61. HESPEROPHO'NA. (Gr. irrnepa, Hesperus, place of sunset; Kpavrj, voice.) Ameehwn 

 Hawfinches. Bill enormously large, vaulted, nearly as wide as high at base ; culmen nearly 

 straight to the decurved end ; conitnissure curved without obvious angulation ; gonys very long, 



and mandibular rami short, not reaching back of 

 base of upper mandible ; mandibles of equal thick- 

 ness, lower not so deep as upper; lateral outlines of 

 bill converging straight to tip. Nasal fossfe ex- 

 ,, j^^p^af^n™ tremely short and broad ; nostrils slightly overhung 



-K^Km by antrorse plumula?. Wings long, pointed, folding 



beyond middle of tail, pointed by first two primaries, 

 the rest rapidly graduated ; no peculiar shajie of 

 inner primaries or outer secondaries. Tail rather 

 .,.?' ^S^^a short, emarginate, with long coverts, the under 



(li\3 ~5~« reaching nearly to the forking. Teet small and 



'-''"^Si "" weak; tarsus shorter than middle toe without 



o^^nV 1 ^1 claw ; lateral toes of about eciual lengths, their claws 



reaching only to base of middle claw. Coloration 

 Fig. 206. - Evening Grosbeak, reduced. black, white, and yellow. Sexes dissimilar. Little 

 (Sheppard del. Nichols sc.) difl'erent from Old World Coccothraustc^, excepting 



coloration ami shnjjlicity of wing-quills. 

 189. H. vesperti'na. (Lat. vespertina, of Hesperus. FiG. 206.) Evening Grosbeak. Adult 

 (J ; General color sordid yellow, overlaid with a sooty-olive shade, ileepest on fore parts, (juite 

 black on crown, clearest below behind. Forehead and line over eye, scapulars, and ruinp, 

 yellow. Wings and tail black; several inner secondaries and inner half of the greater coveits 

 white ; lining of wings black and yellow. A narrow black line around base of upper man- 

 dible ; tibiaj black. Bill greenish-yellow ; feet apparently dusky flesh-color. Length 

 7.50-8.50; wing 4.00-4.50; tail 3.50-3.00; bill 0.75 long, 0.67 deep, 0.60 broad. $: 

 Brownish -ash, paler below, whitening (m belly, irregularly patched or mixed with yellowish; 

 white of wings imperfect, <jr tinged with yellow ; primaries, which are quite black in ^, with 



