FINCHES. 199 



canfinement to a few places, where they may be considered, 

 in a broad sense of the term, colonial. Dr. Brewer says that 

 their flight " is quite different from that of any other bird," 

 and, as I have myself observed, that " in flying they drop their 

 tails very low." 



d. Their single ordinary note is " rather more mellow than 

 that of the Sea-side Finch," but their song has little or no 

 merit, and consists of but a few notes. 



X. COTURNICULUS* 



A. SAVAiofAEUM PAS8EEINUS. Yellow-winged Sparrow. 

 A summer resident in Massachusetts, but in many parts 

 rare.f 



a. About five inches long. Crown, very dark, with a 

 brownish yellow median line, and a lighter superciliary line. 

 Interscapulars, dull bay, black-streaked, and edged with brown- 

 ish yellow. Rump, brown and gray intermixed. Beneath,' 

 brownish yellow or buff (obsoletely streaked) ; % belly, almost 

 white. Wings edged with bright yellow, and with a patch 

 (the lesser covert) yellowish ; otherwise corresponding to the 

 back and tail. 



h. The nest is usually placed on the ground, in a field or 

 pasture, is often lined with hairs, and is here finished in the 

 last week of May. Four or five eggs are then laid, averaging 

 .78 X-60 of an inch, and normally are white, with a wreath of 

 blended reddish brown and obscure lilac spots about the greater 

 end, and a few scattered spots of the former color elsewhere. 

 In some cases the markings cover the greater end, so that 

 there is no distinct ring. 



c. My own observations have shown me that the Yellow- 

 winged Sparrows are rare, at least in some parts of eastern 

 Massachusetts, though common in others, during their eom- 



* Now a subgenus of Ammodramus. and found sparingly in southern New 

 W. B. Hampshire and Vermont. — W. B. 



t A summer resident of southern t Fully mature birds in breeding 



New England, abundant in southern plumage have the under parts quite 



Connecticut, on Nantucket, and about immaculate, save on the sides of the 



Springfield, Massachusetts, locally breast, where there are a few faint 



common in eastern Massachusetts, streaks. — W. B. 



