FBINGILLID2E : FINCHES, BUNTINGS, SPAEBOWS, ETC. 



387 



a86. c. bi'color. (Lat. bicolor, two-colored. Pig. 246.) Labk Bunting. White-winged 

 Blackbird.. $, in summer. Black, with a large white patch on the wings; the quills and 

 taU- feathers frequently marked with white ; bill dark horn-blue above, paler below ; feet brown. 

 Length 6.00-6.75 ; extent 10.00-11.00; wing 3.25-3.50 ; tail 2.50-2.75 ; bill 0.50-0.55 ; tarsus, 

 or middle toe and claw, 0.90-1.00. Sexes unlike: 9 more resembling a sparrow. Above, gray- 

 ish-brown, streaked with dusky-brown, on the back the edges of the dark streaks often of a 

 purer brown than the general ground-color. Below, white, shaded on the sides with grayish- 

 brown, thickly streaked with blackish-brown everywhere excepting the throat and belly, the 

 streaks mostly sharp and distinct, but blended on the sides, tending to aggregate on the breast, 

 and run forward as a maxillary chain. A poorly-defined light superciliary stripe. Wings 

 dusky, with a large white or whitish speculum, much as in the $, but not so pure nor so 

 extensive ; inner secondaries edged with brown and white. Tail-feathers, the middle excepted, 

 blackish tipped with white. Young $ like the ? , but colors more suffuse and brighter ; 

 upper parts pure brown ; under parts tinged vidith fulvous, the wing-markings quite fulvous ; 

 under surface of wing quite 

 blackish. In very young 

 birds the markings more 

 motley than streaky ; the bill 

 brownish, flesh-colored be- 

 low. $ wears the black 

 plumage only during the 

 breeding season, like the 

 bobolink ; when changing, 

 the characters of the two 

 sexes are confused. In the 

 form of the bill, this interest- 

 ing species is closely aUied 

 to the grosbeaks; and this, 

 with the singularly enlarged 

 secondaries, as long as the 

 primaries in the closed wing, 

 renders it unmistakable , in 

 plumage. A prau-ie 



any 



Fig. 246.- 







■Lark Banting, <f ? , reduced. (Sheppard del. Nichols so.) 

 bird, abundant on the central plains ; N. to 49° at least, in the Missouri and Milk River region, 

 W. to the Rocky Mts., and southerly to the Pacific. The male has the habit of soaring and 

 singing on wing like a lark; nest on the ground, sunken flush with the surface, of grasses; 

 eggs 4-5, 0.90 X 0.65, pale bluish-green, normally unmarked, occasionally speckled. 



88. SPI'ZA. (Gr. (nriCa, spiza, a kind of finch, probably F. Calebs.) Silk Buntings. Bill 

 much as in Calamospiza, but longer for its depth and not so strongly angulated. Wings very 

 long and pointed; 2d primary usually longest, 1st and 3d little shorter, 4th and rest rapidly 

 graduated; one inner secondary a little elongated, but not nearly reaching point of wing. Tail 

 short, nearly even, but a little emarginate. Tarsus and middle toe and claw of about equal 

 lengths ; lateral toes of nearly equal lengths, not reaching base of middle claw ; hind toe with 

 claw as long as the middle toe without claw. 



387. S. america'na. (Lat. of America. Fig. 247.) Black-throated Bunting. $ ■ Above, 

 grayish-brown, the middle of the back streaked with black, the hind neck ashy, becoming on 

 the crown yeUowish-olive with black touches. A yellow superciliary line, and maxillary touch 

 of the same ; eyelid white ; ear-coverts ashy like the cervix ; chin white ; throat with a large 

 jet-black patch. Under parts in general white, shaded with gray on the sides, extensively 

 tinged with yellow on the breast and belly. Edge of wing yellow ; lesser and middle coverts 



