488 MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 
male in autumn and winter is similar, but the black of head and chest and the chestnut 
collar are largely obscured by the ashy tips of the feathers. 
Adult female: Similar to the winter male, but smaller and the black areas more re- 
stricted and much more obscured, so that the throat and breast show little or no black; 
the chestnut collar often wanting altogether. : 
Male: Length 6.10 to 6.90 inches; wing 3.60 to 3.90. Female: Length 5.50 to 6 inches, 
wing 3.50 to 3.60. . : 
Note.—For an account of the Painted Longspur or Smith’s Longspur, not yet recorded 
from Michigan, see Appendix. 
220. Vesper Sparrow. Pocecetes gramineus gramineus (Gmel.). (540) 
Synonyms: Grass Finch, Bay-winged Bunting, Pasture Bird, Grass Sparrow, Ground- 
bird.—Fringilla graminea, Gmelin, 1789, also of Audubon and Nuttall——Emberiza 
graminea, Wils.—Zonotrichia graminea, Bonap.—Poocetes gramineus, A. O. U. Check- 
list, 1886.—Pocecetes gramineus, Sclater, 1862, and most recent writers. 
Plate XLVI. 
One of our larger, streaked, gray-brown sparrows, always recognizable 
by the white outer tail-feather (the next feather often largely white) and 
the red-brown shoulders (lesser wing-coverts), which give the bird the 
name of Bay-winged Bunting. 
Distribution.—Eastern North America to the Plains, from Nova Scotia 
and Ontario southward; breeds from Virginia, Kentucky and Missouri 
northward. 
This bird is generally distributed in open lands throughout the state 
from April to October, and nests abundantly, particularly in pasture lands 
and dry upland fields wherever the grass is not too long. 
It arrives from the south from the last of March to the middle of April, 
according to latitude, having been observed at Petersburg as early as 
March 19, 1894, and at Detroit March 19, 1897, and March 20, 1892; even at 
Marquette it has been recorded by Miss Mowbray as early as April 10, and 
we have eggs in the College collection taken at Kalamazoo, April 27, 1879. 
In autumn the bird leaves the northern part of the state during September, 
but lingers in the southern counties always until November and occasion-. 
ally later. From the time of its arrival until the first of August it sings 
almost constantly, and during the hot days of midsummer its pretty chant 
is one of the refreshing bird voices which is constantly heard. The song is 
difficult to describe, but is often mistaken by the novice for that of the 
Song Sparrow, which, however, it only resembles in a general way. 
Its habit of singing from before sunset until dark has given the appro- 
priate name of Vesper Sparrow, but it also sings freely at all hours of the 
day, even in the middle of the hottest days. 
It is restricted mainly to the open country and is the characteristic 
bird of pastures, fields, roadsides and lanes, being always recognizable by 
the white tail-feathers, which show conspicuously as the bird flies away. 
It most often perches on a fence or a stone when singing, but frequently 
sings from the bare ground, and occasionally from the top of a tree. 
The nest is made of weed-stalks and grasses of various kinds, sunk in a 
hollow scratched in the ground, and often with its upper edge nearly flush 
with the surface. The eggs are three to five, most often four, and are 
bluish or pinkish white spotted with brown and purplish, and frequently 
with a few dots or fine lines of black. They average .81 by .60 inches. 
Probably two broods are reared by the great majority of the birds, and 
