388 



SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSSBES— OSCINES. 



Fig. 247 - 

 (Sheppard del. 



Bluck-tliroated Bunting, reduced. 

 Nicliols BC.) 



rich chestnut, other coverts and inner secondaries edged with paler. Bill dark horn-blue; 

 feet Ijrown. Length 6.50-7.00; extent 10.50-11.00; wing 3.25-3.50, sharp-pointed; tail 



9.50-2.75, emarginate. ?. Smaller; wing under 

 3.00, etc.; above, like the $, but head and neck 

 plainer ; below, less tinged with yellow, the black 

 throat-patch wanting, replaced by sparse sharp 

 maxUlary and pectoral streaks, the wing-coverts 

 not chestnut, though so indicated by rufous edg- 

 ings of the individual feathers. Young $ : Larger 

 than the 9, but in general similar; throat-pa*«ih 

 indicated by blackish feathers ; wing-coverts chest- 

 nut. An elegant species, of trim form, tasteful 

 colors and very smooth plumage, abundant in the 

 fertUe poi-tions of the Eastern IT. S. ; N. to Massa- 

 chusetts ; W. to Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, and 

 in the south to Arizona ; rather southerly, scarcely 

 reaching the N. border of the U. S. anywhere; 

 winters wholly extralimital ; breeds throughout its 

 U. S. range. Not a good vocalist; the simple 

 ditty sounds like chip-chip-chee, chee, chee. Nest 

 on the ground, or in a low bush ; eggs 4-5, normally plain greenish-white, rarely speckled ; 

 O.SO X 0.65. 

 288. S. town'sendl. (To J. K. Townsend.) Townsend's Bunting. " Upper parts, head and 

 neck all round, sides of body and forepart of breast, slate-blue ; back and upper surface of vrings 

 tinged with yellowish-brown ; interscapulars streaked with black ; superciliary and maxillary 

 line, chin and throat and central line of under parts from breast to crissum, white ; edge of 

 wing, and gloss on breast and middle of belly, yellow ; a black spotted line ii-om lower comer of 

 lower mandible down the side of the throat, connecting with a crescent of streaks in the upper 

 edge of the slate portion of the breast." Pennsylvania ; one specimen known, a standing puzzle 

 to ornithologists, in the uncertainty whether it is a " good species," or merely an abnormal plu- 

 mage of the last, or a hybrid, possibly of S. americcma 9 X (J Gtmraca ccerulea. While it is not 

 improbable that the type came from an egg laid by S. americcma, even such immediate ancestry 

 would not forbid recognition of " specific characters; " the solitary bird having been killed, it 

 represents a species which died at its birth. 

 89. ZAMEIiO'DIA. (Gr. ^d, za, much, very ; ^cXaiSi'a, melodia. 

 melody. Fig. 248.) Song Gkosbeaks. Bill extremely 

 heavy, with the lower mandible as deep as the upper or 

 deeper, the commissural angle strong, far in advance of the 

 feathered base of the bill, the rictus overhung with a few long 

 stiff bristles. Wing with outer 4 primaries abruptly longer 

 than 5th. Tail shorter than wing, even or scarcely rounded. 

 Feet short and stout. Embracing two large species, of beau- 

 tiful and striking colors, the sexes dissimilar. $ black and 

 white, with carmine-red or orange-brown ; ? otherwise, but 

 with lining of wings yellow. Brilliant songsters ; nest in 

 trees and bushes ; eggs spotted. 



Analysis of Species, 



(f black and white, with carmine-red on breast and tinder wings. J with lining of wings BaiTron-yeUow. 



Eastern Inclovicicma 289 



cf black and white, with orange-brown on breast: (f ? with lining of wings and belly yellow. Western 



melanocephata 290 



Fig. 248. — Bill of Zamelodia (Z. 

 Mdoviciana, nat. size.) (Ad. uat del. 

 E.G.) 



