164 EUSPIZA AMERICAXA, BLACK-THROATED BUNTING. 



when the birds ivere breeding, apparently in straggling groups, keeping 

 up somewhatofassociation,butbynomeans intimate companionship, still 

 less flocking ; each pair findtag its own business suflficientlj- interesting 

 and absorbing. As 1 was traveling by coach at the time, I had no 

 opportunity of looking for the nests. Judging from the fact that I saw 

 scarcely any females, the birds were then either incubating or brooding 

 over their young. The more conspicuous and voluble males were almost 

 constantly in view, fluttering over the grass, every now and then start- 

 ing up on tremulous wing, almost perpendicularly in the air, hovering 

 and singing the while, till they dropped as if exhausted. Sometimes 

 several were in view at once, and I used to watch their vocal rivalry 

 with unflagging interest, as each strove, it seemed, to rise the higher, 

 and carol the louder its joyous song. 



The Galamospiza nests on the ground In open prairie, building, as 

 usual in such cases, a rather rude structure of grasses and slender 

 weed-stalks, with merely a little finer material of the same sort for lin- 

 ing. The nest is sunk flush with the surface of the ground. The eggs 

 are commonly five in number, sometioies only four. They are of a clear 

 pale bluish-green, and look almost exactly like those of a Bluebird, in 

 fact, could not be distinguished with certainty, though rather larger 

 and thicker. liarely a set of eggs is found very sparsely dotted, as 

 frequently happens with these pale greenish eggs ; but I have never 

 seen a white one, like the curious white eggs Bluebirds sometimes lay. 

 The egg varies in size and shape from 0.80 to 0.95 in length, by about 

 0.65 in breadth. Cow-birds' eggs are frequently found in the nest. 



The following was prepared by Mr. Allen for this work : " The 

 Lark Bunting, though of rather local distribution and limited 

 range, must be regarded as one of the most characteristic and interest- 

 ing birds of the plains. Generally in the breeding season a number of 

 pairs are found in the same vicinity, while again not an individual may 

 be met with for many miles. At other seasons it is eminently gregari- 

 ous, roving about in considerable flocks. In its song and the manner 

 of its delivery it much resembles the Tellow-brea«ted Chat [Icteria 

 ■rirens), like that bird rising to a considerable distance in the air, and 

 poising itself by a peculiar flapping of the wings during its utterances, 

 then abruptly descending to the ground to soon repeat the manoeuvre. 

 It is a very strong flier, and seems to delight in the strongest gales, 

 singing more at such times than in comparatively quiet weather. I 

 met with several colonies not far from Fort Hays in June and July, and 

 later at Cheyenne, Laramie, and in South Park, and in the elevated 

 open table-lands, between South Park and Colorado City. They were 

 also frequent'along the route from Colorado City to Denver, sometimes 

 considerable flocks being met with. They w^ere then moulting, and the 

 parti-colored flocks of young and old were quite unsuspicious and easily 

 approached. During the breeding season we found them exceedingly 

 shy and difftcult to procure, and were unsuccessful in our eiforts to dis- 

 cover their nests." 



EUSPIZA AMEEICx'lXA, (Gm.) Bp. 

 Black-throated Bunting. 



Eniberiza americana, Gm., Svst. Xat. i, 1788, 87-2.— "Wils., Am. Orn. i, 1808, 411 : iii, 1811 



86; pi. 3, f. 2.— NUTT., Mau. i, 1832, 461.— AuD., iv, 1838, 579, pi. 384: Syn 



1839, 101 ; B. Am. iii, 1841, 58, pi. 156.— Emm., Cat. B. Mass. 1835, 4.— Pe.vb., Eep. 



B. Mass. 1839, 319.— GiP,., B. L. 1. 1844, 100.— PuTX., Pr. Ess. Inst. 1, 1856, 227 -— 



■ Maxim., J. f. O. vi, 1858, 341. 



Frirtfjilla {Spiza) americana, Bp., Ob's. \Yils. 1825, No. 85. 



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