196 LAND-BIRDS. 



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, grayish brown, the middle of the back with fine 

 black streaks. Tail, very long, its central 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 the outer pair entirely white." (Dr. Coues.) 



h. The nest of these birds is most often built upon the 

 ground. " The maximum number of their eggs," says Dr. 

 Brewer, " is five." Their average measurement is .85 by .65 

 of an inch. The ground color is usually a grayish white, 

 rarely a light brown, marbled and streaked with waving lines, 

 and a few dots of black or a blackish brown." 



c. The Lark Finches, since but one specimen has been 

 taken in this State, namely, at Gloucester, in 1845, have no 

 more claim to be considered or treated as birds of Massachu- 

 setts, than a Turk who passes a day and night at Paris to 

 be called a Frenchman ; but, in conformity to the strict but 

 not unreasonable demands of modern science, I give a brief 

 account of its habits, formed from the observations of other 

 naturalists. The Lark Finches feed principally upon seeds 

 which they obtain upon the ground. They are most abundant 

 in prairies and other open lands, though they also visit trees, 

 or resort to their immediate neighborhood. In general hab- 

 its, they resemble the White-throated Sparrows (^Zonotrichice, 

 next to whom they should properly stand). 



d. Mr. Kidgway considered their delightful song, which is 

 usually delivered from a perch, as the finest belonging to the 

 Finches. 



IX. AMMODRAMUS. 



A. MAEITIMUS. Seaside Finch. Almost wholly absent 

 from Massachusetts, though said by Dr. Coues to be, or to 

 have been, abundant in New Hampshire.* 



* An abundant summer resident of found in eastern Massachusetts. The 



salt and brackish marshes in southern New Hampshire record by Dr. Coues 



Connecticut, bordering Long Island " arose in a slip of the memory on his 



Sound. A few stragglers have been part, the birds which he found in plenty 



