rraNGiLLiD/E, finches, etc. — gen. 67, 68. 137 



in fields, etc., terrestrial, migratory, gregarious in the fall. Wils., iv, 51, 

 pi. 31, f. 5 ; NuTT., i, 482 ; Auo., iii, 65, pi. 159 ; Bd., 447. guamineus. 



/ -V 



I 53 ' 67. Genus COTURNICULUS Bonaparte. 



^' ''" Yelloiv -winged Sparro'w. Edge of wing conspicuously yellow ; lesser 

 wing coverts, and short lino over eye, yellowish ; behnv, not or not evidently 

 streaked, Ijut fore parts and sides, buff, fading to dull white on the Ijclly. 

 Above, singularly variegated with black, gray, yellowish-brown and a 

 peculiar purplish-bay iu short streaks and specks, the crown being nearly 

 black with a sharp median brownish-yellow line, the middle of the back 

 chiefly black with bay and brownish-yellow edgings of the feathers, the cer- 

 vical region and rump chiefly gray mixed with bay ; wing coverts and inner 

 quills variegated like the back; feet pale. Small; only 4^-5^ long; wing 

 2-J-, much rounded ; tail 2 or less, with very narrow pointed feathers, the out- 

 stretched feet reaching to or beyond its end ; bill shoi't, turgid. Sexes alike ; 

 young similar, not so bufiy below, and with pectoral and maxillary dusky 

 spots ; but in any plumage known from other sparrows (except the next 

 species) by amount of yellow on wings, and peculiar proportions of parts. 

 United States ; abundant iu tall grass and weeds of plains aud fields ; strictly 

 terrestrial, migratory, with a peculiar chirring note, like a grasshopper's ; 

 nests on the ground, eggs 4—5, white, speckled. Specimens from dry 

 western regions are paler aud grayer (var. jKrjmllidus Ridgway, Mss.). 

 WiLS., iii, 76, pi. 26, f. 5 ; Aud., iii, 73, pi. 162 ; Nutt., i, 494 ; Bd., 450 ; 

 Coop., 189 passerinus. 



j 'A Hensloio's Sparrow. Resembling the last ; smaller ; more yellowish 

 above, and with sharp maxillary, pectoral aud lateral black streaks below ; 

 tail longer, reaching beyond feet ; bill stout. Eastern U. S., not very com- 

 mon. Aud., iii, 75, pi. 163; Nutt., i, 2d ed. 571; Bo., 451. iienslowii. 

 I // Leconte's Sparrow. Like the last; bill much smaller; fore and under 

 parts aud sides of head buff, with black touches on sides ; no yellow loral 

 spot ; median crown-stripe buff, white posteriorly ; 4J ; wing 2 J ; tail 1-g-. 

 Missouri region; Texas. A long-lost species, rediscovered in No. 50, 222, 

 Mus. S. I. (Linceciwi.) Aud., vii, 338, pi. 488; Bd., 452. . lecontei. 



68. Genus AMMODROMUS Swainson. 



*jt.* Small streaked sparrows, remarkable for the slender lengthened form of the 

 bill, and the narrow, acute tail feathers. Wing short, much rounded, its edge 

 yellow ; tail short ; feet very large, reaching nearly to end of tail. Confiued to salt- 

 marshes of the Atlantic and Gulf States ; abundant, migratory. 

 jf ^1 /Sea-side Finch. Olive-gray, obscurely streaked on the back and crown with 

 darker and paler ; below, wdiitish, often washed with brownish, and shaded 

 on the sides with the color of the back, with ill-defined streaks on the breast 

 and sides; Avings and tail plain dusky, with slight olivaceous edgings, wino- 

 coverts and inner quills somewhat margined with brown ; a yellow sptot over 

 ei/e, and often some vague brownish and dusky markings on side of head ; 



KEY TO N. A. UIKD8. IS 



