CENTEONYX BAIRDII, BAIED'S BUNTING. 125 



Array, in Western Texas, this species has been noticed in various parts 

 of New Mexico, by Drs. A. L. Heermann and T. C. Henry, and by other 

 naturalists further north, as above quoted. It has been usually observed 

 in company with P. omatns, and its United States range appears to be 

 much the same, although, as yet, we have no accounts of its occurrence 

 in the British Possessions or in Mexico. I am informed, by letter from 

 Mr. T. Martin Trippe, that vast numbers were seen in winter in the 

 Arkansas Valley, and throughout Eastern Colorado. 



" Maccown's Bunting," writes Mr. Allen to me, "was abundant in the 

 vicinity of Cheyenne in August, and the occurrence of partially-fledged 

 young seemed to indicate that it had bred in the immediate vicinity. I 

 also observed it near Laramie City during the same months, and found 

 it common, in winter, in the northwestern counties of Kansas. In hab- 

 its, notes, and general appearance, it is scarcely distinguishable, at a 

 little distance, from the Chestnut-collared Bunting." 



A nest of Maccown's Bunting taken on Heart Eiver, Dakota, July 7, 

 1873, by Mr. Allen, was built on the ground, and is constructed of 

 decomposing woody fibre and grasses, with a lining of finer grasses. 

 In its present state of preservation it is too much distorted to permit 

 description of its shape. It contained four eggs, closely resembling the 

 lighter-colored varieties of the P. oriiatus, but without the purplish-gray 

 clouding of the latter. The ground is dull white; the markings are 

 obscure and rather sparse mottling, with some heavier, sharp, scratchy 

 ones, both brown, of different intensity. A specimen measures 0.80 by 

 0.60. 



CENTEONYX BAIEDII, (Aud.) Bd. 

 Baird's Sparrow. 



Eniberisa hairdii, AuD., B. Am. vii, 1843, 3,59, pi. 500. 



Cotwrniculus tairdii, Bp., Conap. Av. i, 1850, 481. 



Cenironyx hairdii, Bd., B. N. A. 1858, 441. — Coues, Key, 1872, 135 (not of Mayn., Nat. 



Guide, 113, the supposed "Centronyx" from Massachusetts proving to be a 



Passerculus. See Mayn., Am. Nat. vi, 1872, 637 ; Allen, iUd. 631 ; Bkew., iUd. 



vi, 1872, 307 ; ConES, Key, 3.52).— B. B. & E., N. A. B. 1, 1874, 531, pi. 25, fig. 3.— 



Hensh., Am. Nat. yiii, 1874, p. — (Arizona). 

 Passerculus hairdii, Coues, Am. Nat. vi, 1873, 697. 

 Ammodromus hairdii, GiBBEL, Nomenc. Av. i, 326. 

 Centronyx ochrocephalus, Aiken, Am. Nat. vii, 1873, 237 (El Paso, Colorado. Autumnal 



plumage. See Scott, ibid. 564 ; Coues, ihid. 694). 



Sah. — Central Plains. North to the British Provinces. South to New Mexico and 

 Arizona. East nearly to the Eed Eiver of the North. West to the Eocky Mountains. 

 Not procured by any of the Expeditions. 



Upon insufficient examination of the type, a faded specimen in worn plumage, pre- 

 served in the Smithsonian, I ventured the hasty and, as it proved, unfounded surmise 

 that this was not a valid species, having an idea that some obscure plumage of a 

 young Plectrophanes was in question. The following descriptions are drawn up from 

 about seventy-five specimens I collected in Dakota last year. 



Adult, in breeding plumage. — With a general resemblance to Passerculus savanna. 

 Inner secondaries less elongated, only rarely equaling the primaries in the closed 

 wings. First four quills about equal, and longest. Hind toe and claw about equaling 

 the middle toe and claw, its claw about equaling the digit. (No evident or constant 

 difference from Passerculus in proportions of the toes.) Tail shorter than the wing, 

 lightly double-rounded (central and outer pair of feathers both a little shorter than 

 the Intermediate ones). Top of head streaked with black and rich brownish-yellow, 

 or buff, the former predominating laterally, the latter chiefly as a median stripe, but 

 also suffusing the nape and sides of head in greater or less degree. Back varied with 

 brownish-black and gray, together with a little bay, the two latter colors forming the 

 edgings of the interscapulars and scapulars. Rump variegated with gray and chestnut- 

 brown, different in shade from that of the'baok. Under parts dull white, usually with 

 a faint ochrey tinge on the breast, but often without; a circlet of small, sharp, sparse, 



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