180 



LARK FINCH. 



The figure given in our plate is that of a male ; and the only differ- 

 ence observable between the sexes is, that the rump of the male is of a 

 brighter color, approaching, in old birds, to a pure yellow. 



During winter, the Orange-crowned Warbler is one of the most com- 

 mon birds in the neighborhood of St. Augustine, Florida, almost exclu- 

 sively frequenting the orange trees. Their manners resemble those of 

 the kindred species, though they have a remarkable habit of constantly 

 inflecting the tail, like the Pewee. The note consists of a chuck, and a 

 faint squeak, but little louder than that of a mouse. 



FRIN6ILLA OBAMMACA. 



LARK FINCH. 



[Plate V. Fig. 3.] 

 Fringilla grammaca, Sat, in Long's Expedition to the Bocky Mountains, i., p. 139, 



Foe this very interesting new species. Ornithology is again indebted 

 to Long's expedition, and particularly to Say, who gave it the name we 

 have adopted, and informs us, in his notes, that many of these birds 

 were shot in the month of June, at Bellefontaine, on the Missouri ; and 

 others were observed, the following spring, at Engineer Cantonment, 

 near Council Bluffs. 



It seems probable that the range of this bird is limited, in a great 

 measure, by the Mississippi on the east. Like the Larks, they frequent 

 the prairies, and very seldom, if ever, alight on trees ; they sing sweetly, 

 and often continue their notes while on the wing. 



The Lark Finch is six inches and a half long ; its bill, a little notched 

 at tip, is of a pale horn color, with a slight elevation on the roof of the 

 upper mandible. The feet are pale flax color, tinged with orange ; the 

 irides are dark brown. On the top of the head are two dilated lines, 

 blackish on the front, and passing into ferruginous on the crown and 

 hind head, separated from each other by a whitish-cinereous line ; from 

 the eye to the superior mandible is a black line, which, as well as the 

 eye, is enclosed by a dilated white line, contracted behind the eye ; from 

 the angle of the mouth proceeds a black line, which is much dilated into 

 a ferruginous spot on the auricles ; below this is a broad white line, mar- 

 gined beneath by a narrow black one, originating at the inferior base of 

 the lower mandible ; the chin and throat are pure white. The neck 

 above, the back, and rump, are dull cinereous-brown, each feather of 

 the interscapular region having a blackish-brown disc ; the neck beneath 

 and breast are dull whitish-cinereous ; a small blackish-brown spot is on 



