A92 



U. S. p. E. R. EXP. AND SURVEYS — ZOOLOGY — GENERAL REPORT. 



h. Head not crested. Jfo red. Bill dusky. 



PiPiLO. — Bill moderate ; culmen and commissure curved. Hind claw very large 

 and strong ; longer than its digit. Tarsus less than the middle toe. 



CALAMOSPIZA, Bonaparte. 



Calamospiza, Bonap. List, 1838. Type Fringilla iicolor, Towns. 

 Corydalina, Audubon, Synopsis, 1839. Same type. 



* 



Ch. — Bill rather large, much swollen at the base ; the culmen broad, gently but decidely curved ; the gonys nearly 



straight ; the commissure much angulated near the base, then slightly sinuated ; lower mandible nearly as deep as the upper, 

 the margins much inflected, and shutting under the upper mandible. Nostrils small, strictly basal. Rictus quite stiffly bristly. 

 Legs large and stout. Tarsi a little longer than the middle toe ; outer toe rather longer than the inner, and reaching to the 

 concealed base of the middle claw ; hind toe reaching to the base of the middle claw ; hind claw about as long as its toe. Claws 

 all strong, compressed, and considerably curved. Wings long and pointed ; the fiist four nearly equal, and abruptly longest ; 

 the tertials much elongated, as long as the primaries. Tail a little shorter than the wings, slightly graduated ; the feathers 

 rather narrow and obliquely oval rounded at the end. 

 Color. — Black, with white on the wings. 



This genus is well characterized by the large swollen bill, with its curved culmen ; the large 

 strong feet and claws ; the long wings, a little longer than the tail, and with the tertials as 

 long as the primaries ; the first four quills equal, and abruptly longest ; the tail short and 

 graduated. 



The only group of N. American Spizellinae, with the tertials equal to the primaries in the 

 closed wing, is Passerculus. This, however, has a differently formed bill, weaker feet, the inner 

 primaries longer and more regularly graduated, the tail feathers more acute and shorter, and 

 the plumage streaked brownish and white instead of black. 



Comparative measurements of species. 



CALAMOSPIZA BICOLOK, Bonap. 



Lark Bunting; White-winged Blackbird. 



Fringilla Ucolar, Townsend, J. A. N. Sc. Ph. VII, 1837, 189.— Ib. Narrative, 1839, 346.— Aud. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 



19 ; pi. 390. 

 Calamospiza bicolor, Bonap. List, 1838. — Ib. Conspectus, 1850, 475. 

 Corydalina hicolor, Aud. Syr.opsis, 1839, 130.— Ib. Birds Am. HI, 1841, 195; pi. 201. 

 Dolichonyx bicolor, Nuttall, Manual, I, 2d ed. 1840, 203. 



Sp. Ch. Male entirely black ; a broad band on the wing, wilh the outer edges of the quills and tail feathers, white . 



Female pale brown, streaked with darker above ; beneath white, spotted and streaked rather sparsely with black on the breast 

 and sides. Throat nearly immaculate. A maxillary stripe of black, bordered above by white. Region around the eye, a faint 

 stripe above it, and an obscure crescent back of the ear coverts, whitish. A broad fulvous white band across the ends of the 

 greater wing coverts. Tail feathers with a, white spot at the end of the inner web. Length, about 6.50; wing, 3.50 ; tail, 

 3.20 ; tarsus, 1.00; bill above, .60. 



Hab.—Uigh Central Plains to the Rocky mountains ; southwesterly to valley of Mimbres and Sonora. 



