342 



SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSEBJES— OSCINES. 



Inner secondaries not enlarged ; wing 

 Edge of wing and loral spot yelli 



decidedly longer than tail. 

 ;owj / breast buff; wing under 2.50. 



With yellow on breast, edge of wing, over eye 



(Eastern.) 



No yellow ; head striped with 



(Western.) 



No yellow ; wingBwhite-ba/rred 



Inner secondaries not enlarged ; wing 



Tail-feathers ^- very acute ; bill 



— not acute ; tail 

 (N.Am.) 



(Eastern.) 



Cotumiculus 

 black throat-patch or stripes. 



Splza 



black, white, and chestnut ; tail blcuik, white-tipped. 



CJumdestes 



/ throat black, (^. (Imported.) . . . .Passer 

 not, or not decidedly, longer than tail. 



— very slender. (Eastern, chiefly maritime.) 



Ammodramus 



— very stout. (Eastern, interior.) . .Cotwmiculus 

 —forked. Length 6.00 or less ; no yellow on wing. 



Spizella 



— rounded — black; edge of wing yellowish. (West- 



ern.) Amphispiza 



— not black. — Streaked below, or crown 



chestnut. (N. Am. ) . . Melospiza 



— not streaked below. (S. 



and W. U. S.) . Peuctea 



or (N. Am.) Zonotrichia 



77 



84 



*** The commonest " sparrows " of Eastern TT. S., which the student will be most likely to find first, belong 

 to the genera Passer^ Spizella, Melospiza, Zonotrichia, Passerella, Passerculus, Poacetes, Cotumiculus (these 

 anywhere); Ammodramms (marshes only); common but more distinguished fi'ingillines are Carpodacus, Astra- 

 gcUinua, Chrysamiiris, Passerine, Spiza, Pipilo, and Cardinalis. Winter visitors, in flocks, are Loxia, Pinicola, 

 PlectTophcmes, Centrophanes, .Mgiothus, and Jvjnco. 



61. HBSPEROPHO'NA. (Gr. ianipa, Hesperus, place of sunset; <^am), voice.) American 

 HAwriNCHES. Bill enormously large, vaulted, nearly as wide as high at base ; oulmen nearly 

 srtraight to the decurved end ; commissure curved without obvious angulation ; gonys very long, 



and mandibular rami short, not reaching back of 

 base of upper mandible ; mandibles of equal thick- 

 ness, lower not so deep as upper ; lateral outlines of 

 bill converging straight to tip. Nasal fossse ex- 

 tremely short and broad ; nostrils slightly overhung 

 by antrorse plumulse. Wings long, pointed, folding 

 beyond middle of tail, pointed by first two primaries, 

 the rest rapidly graduated ; no peculiar shape of 

 inner primaries or outer secondaries. Tail rather 

 short, emarginate, vrith long coverts, the under 

 reaching nearly to the forking. Feet small and 

 weak ; tarsus shorter than middle toe without 

 claw ; latereil toes of about equal lengths, their claws 

 reaching only to base of middle claw. Coloration 

 black, white, and yellow. Sexes dissimilar. Little 

 different from Old World Coccothraustes, excepting 

 coloration and simplicity of wing-quills. 

 189. H. vesperti'na. (Lat. vespertina, of Hesperus. Fig. 206.) Evening Grosbeak. Adult 

 ^ : General color sordid yellow, oyerlaid with a sooty-olive shade, deepest on fore parts, quite 

 black on crown, clearest below behind. Forehead and line over eye, scapulars, and rump, 

 yellow. Wings and tail black ; several inner secondaries and inner half of the greater coverts 

 white ; lining of wings black and yellow. A narrow black line around base of upper man- 

 dible ; tibiae black. Bill greenish-yellow ; feet apparently dusky flesh-color. Length 

 7.50-8.50 ; wing 4.00-4.50 ; tail 3.50-3.00 ; biU 0.75 long, 0.67 deep, 0.60 broad. ? : 

 Brownish-ash, paler below, whitening on belly, irregularly patched or mixed with yellowish ; 

 white of wings imperfect, or tinged with yellow ; primaries, which are quite black in ^ , with 



- Evening Grosbeak, reduced. 

 Nichols sc.) 



