BAY-BIRDS. 265 



insects, mostly grasshoppers, on which it feeds ; and 

 when killed it constitutes a prime delicacy for the 

 table, and brings a high price in market. It passes 

 to the northward in the latter part of April, and re- 

 turns in the early part of September. Its general 

 color on the back is greenish, and it has a distinct 

 light stripe alongside of the eye. They often con- 

 gregate in immense numbers, and I have certainly 

 seen a thousand in a flock. 



" Specific Character. — Bill i-ather slender ; along 

 the gap one inch and an eighth ; tarsi one and nine- 

 sixteenths. Adult with the bill black, much slighter 

 than O. helveticus / forehead, and a band over the eye, 

 extending behind the eye, white; upper parts, includ- 

 ing the crown, brownish-black, the feathers marked 

 with spots of golden yellow and dull white ; quills 

 and coverts dark greyish-brown ; secondaries paler 

 — the inner margined with yellowish- white ; tail 

 feathers greyish-brown, barred with paler, the central 

 with dull yellow; shafts of the wing quills white 

 towards the end, which, with their -bases, are dark 

 brown ; lower parts brownish-black, though in gene- 

 ral we find them mottled with brown, dull white, and 

 black ; lower tail-coverts white, the lateral marked 

 with black ; feet bluish-grey. Late in autumn, the 

 golden markings on the upper parts are not so dis- 

 tinct, and the lower parts are greyish-blue. Length, 

 ten inches and a half, wing seven and one-eighth." — 

 Giraud. 



