LAEK FINCH. 339 



Genus CHONDESTES. Swaineon. 

 Bill swollen, both outlines curved. Lower mandible as high as, and broader than, the 

 upper. Tarsi about equal to the middle toe ; lateral toes equal and very short, not 

 reaching base of middle claw. Wings long, pointed, reaching nearly to the middle of 

 the tail. Tertials equal to secondaries. Tail long, rounded. 



Chondestes grammaca (Say.) Bp. 



Chondestes grammaca, Wkkaton, Field Notes, i, 1861, 129; Ohio Agric. Eep. for 1860, 1861, 

 366; Eeprint, 8; in Cones' Birds of N. W., 1874, 234; Food of Birds, etc., Ohio Agric. 

 Rep. for 1860, 1861, 566; Reprint, 6.— CouES, Birds of N. W., 1874, 159.— Bairb, 

 Brewer and Ridgway, N. A. Birds, i, 1874, 563.— Lakgdon, Oat. Birds of Cin., 

 1877, 9 —Ridgway, Bnll. Nutt. Orn. Club, iii, 1878, 43 -Jordan, Man. Vert, 1878, 86. 



Chondestes gram,mica, Brewster, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, iii, 1878, 122. — Langdon, Revised 

 List, Journ. Cin. Soo. Nat. Hist, i, 1879, 175; Reprint, 9. 



Fringilla grammaca, Say, Long's Exp., i, 1823, 139. 



Chondestes grammaca, Bonaparte, List, 1838, 32. 



Head curiously variegated with chestnut, black, and white; crown chestnut, black- 

 ening on the forehead, divided by a median stripe and bounded by two lateral stripes, 

 of white; a black line through, and another below the eye, enclosing a white streak 

 under the eye and the chestnut auriculars ; next a sharp black maxillary stripe, not 

 quite reaching the bill, cutting off a white stripe from the white chin and throat. A 

 black blotch on middle of breast. Under parts white, faintly shaded with grayish- 

 brown ; upper parts grayith-brown, the middle of the back with fine black streaks. 

 Central tail feathers like the back, the rest jet black, broadly tipped with pure white in 

 diminishing amount from the lateral pair inward, and the outer web of outer pair en- 

 tirely white. Length, 6^-7 ; wing, 3i ; tail, 3. 



" First plumage. Crown dark brown, faintly tinged with..he8tnut. A median and two 

 lateral stripes of pale brownish-yellow. Rest of upper parts similar to the adult, but 

 with the rump obscurely spotted, and the streaking on the feathers of the interscapular 

 region much broader. Lores dull black. Beneath soiled white, thickly streaked every- 

 where, excepting upon the abdomen, with dull black. From » specimen in my collec- 

 tion obtained at Columbus, Ohio, by Dr. J. M. Wheaton." {Brewster, 1. c.) 



Habitat, Plains and prairies of the West; south to Mexico; west to the Pacific; north 

 to Wisconsin and Iowa; east to Middle Ohio. Massachusetts. District of Columbia. 

 Florida, 



Common summer resident from the last week in April until August, 

 less common in Southern Ohio, not known in Northern Ohio. Breeds. 

 The Lark Finch was first known as an Ohio bird in 1861 ; during the 

 spring and summer I saw three specimens. It has since appeared quite 

 regularly, and in increasing numbers. On its first arrival it frequents 

 stubble-fields and roadsides, and sometimes gravelly places, but selects 

 for its summer home a sparsely wooded pasture, or neglected field bor- 

 dered with low trees. It sings from the time of its arrival until after 



