LAND BIRDS. : 497 
other small shrub, but also not infrequently while entirely hidden in the 
grass. : 
TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 
Outer tail-feathers much shorter than middle pair. 
Adult (sexes alike): Top and sides of head and neck greenish-olive, streaked narrowly 
with black except on middle of crown, which thus shows a clear pale stripe; a narrow black 
line from base of upper mandible around and behind the ear-coverts to the back of the 
eye, and a second black line bordering the white throat on each side; back, scapulars and 
rump mainly chestnut and black, each feather black centrally, surrounded by chestnut, 
and narrowly edged with white; breast and sides buffy, sharply streaked with black: 
belly white; wings and tail without bars or spots, the secondaries and outer tail-feathers 
mostly chestnut, the primaries and some of the tail-feathers dusky; bend of the wing yellow; 
bill brownish above, yellowish below; iris brown. Young: Similar to adult, but sides 
alone streaked, the breast without spots; only a single black streak from base of bill below 
eye (the one bordering the throat wanting). 
Length 4.75 to 5.25 inches; wing 2.10 to 2.20; tail 1.90 to 2.05. 
224. Leconte’s Sparrow. Passerherbulus lecontei (Avd.). (548) 
Synonyms.—Leconte’s Bunting.—Emberiza leconteii, Aud., 1844.—Fringilla caudacuta, 
Lath., 1790, Nutt., 1832.—Ammodramus leconteii, A. O. U. Check-list, 1886.—Coturniculus 
lecontii, Baird, 1858, Coues, 1878. 
Similar to Henslow’s Sparrow, but without any yellow on the bend of 
the wing. The general appearance of the bird is decidedly more buffy 
or even yellow. Perhaps the most noticeable difference is in the smaller 
bill which is really minute for such a bird, the culmen measuring only .35 
of an inch. 
Distribution.—From the Plains eastward to Illinois and Indiana, and from 
Manitoba south in winter to South Carolina, Florida and Texas. 
This is a western bird, only stragglers reaching eastward as far as Indiana, 
and possibly to southern Michigan. Our only record is a specimen in the 
Museum of the University of Michigan, said to have been taken near Ann 
Arbor. According to Kumlien and Hollister this species is sometimes 
fairly abundant in autumn near Lake Koshkonong, Wis., where in 1895 
hundreds could have been taken. A few occur there every year in Septem- 
ber, but none are found in spring (Birds of Wisconsin, p. 96). 
The bird is said to be similar in its habits to Henslow’s Sparrow and has 
a similar insect-like voice. 
TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 
Outer tail-feathers much shorter than middle ones; bill very small and slender. 
Adult (sexes alike): ‘‘No dusky rictal or submalar streaks; median crown-stripe buff 
anteriorly, the rest pale buffy-grayish or dull buffy whitish; lateral stripes streaked blackish 
and brownish, the former usually predominating (nearly uniform black in summer); hind 
neck streaked chestnut and pale buffy or buffy-grayish; sides of head, including broad 
superciliary stripe, buffy (deeper, almost ochraceous, in winter, paler, sometimes nearly 
white in summer), the lores and ear-coverts light grayish or brownish, the latter bordered 
above by a blackish streak, becoming larger posteriorly; anterior and lateral lower parts 
buffy, the sides and flanks streaked with blackish; belly white; upper parts brownish, spotted 
or striped with blackish and streaked with whitish or buffy. Young: General color buff, 
deeper above, paler beneath, the belly whitish; upper parts streaked and striped with 
blackish, the chest, sides and flanks more narrowly streaked with the same. 
“Length 4.40 to 5.50 inches; wing 1.87 to 2.06; tail 1.87 to 2.25; culmen about .35” 
(Ridgway). 
63 
