286. 
88. 
| 287. 
FRINGILLIDA: FINCHES, BUNTINGS, SPARROWS, ETC. 387 
C. bi/color.: (Lat. bicolor, two-colored. Fig. 246.) Lark Bunting. WuIT&-wINGED 
Buacxgirp. ¢, in summer. Black, with a large white patch on the wings; the quills and 
tail-feathers frequently marked with white; bill dark horn-blue above, paler below; feet brown. 
Length 6.00-6.75 ; extent 10.00-11.00; wing 3.25-3.50; tail 2.50-2.75 ; bill 0.50-0.55 ; tarsus, 
or middle toe and claw, 0.90-1.00. Sexes unlike: 9 more resembling a sparrow. Above, gray- 
ish-brown, streaked with dusky-brown, on the back the edges of the dark streaks often of a 
purer brown than the general ground-color. Below, white, shaded on the sides with grayish- 
brown, thickly streaked with blackish-brown everywhere excepting the throat and belly, the 
streaks mostly sharp and distinct, but blended on the sides, tending to aggregate on the breast, 
and run forward as a maxillary chain. A poorly-defined light superciliary stripe. Wings 
dusky, with a large white or whitish speculum, much as in the @, but not so pure nor so 
extensive ; inner secondaries edged with brown and white. Tail-feathers, the middle excepted, 
blackish tipped with white. Young ¢@ like the 9, but colors more suffuse and brighter ; 
upper parts pure brown; under parts tinged with fulvous, the wing-markings quite fulvous ; 
under surface of wing quite 
blackish. In very young 
birds the markings more 
motley than streaky ; the bill 
brownish, flesh-colored be- 
low. @ wears the black 
plumage only during the 
breeding season, like the 
bobolink; when changing, 
the characters of the two 
sexes are confused. In the 
form of the bill, this interest- 
ing species is closely allied 
to the grosbeaks; and this, 
with the singularly enlarged 
secondaries, as long as the 
primaries in the closed wing, 
renders it unmistakable in 
any plumage. A _ prairie 
bird, abundant on the central plains ; N. to 49° at least, in the Missouri and Milk River region, 
W. to the Rocky Mts., and southerly to the Pacific. The male has the habit of soaring and 
singing on wing like a lark; nest on the ground, sunken flush with the surface, of grasses; 
eggs 4-5, 0.90 X 0.65, pale bluish-green, normally unmarked, oceasionally speckled. 
SPI'ZA. (Gr. omifa, spiza, a kind of finch, probably F. celebs.) SiLK Buntines. Bill 
much as in Calamospiza, but longer for its depth and not so strongly angulated. Wings very 
long and pointed; 2d primary usually longest, 1st and 3d little shorter, 4th and rest rapidly 
graduated ; one inner secondary a little elongated, but not nearly reaching point of wing. Tail 
short, nearly even, but a little emarginate. Tarsus and middle toe and claw of about equal 
lengths; lateral toes of nearly equal lengths, not reaching base of middle claw; hind toe with 
claw as long as the middle toe without claw. 
S. america/na. (Lat. of America. Fig. 247.) BuAcK-THROATED Buntinc. d: Above, 
grayish-brown, the middle of the back streaked with black, the hind neck ashy, becoming on 
the crown yellowish-olive with black touches. A yellow superciliary line, and maxillary touch 
of the same; eyelid white; ear-coverts ashy like the cervix ; chin white; throat with a large 
jet-black patch. Under parts in general white, shaded with gray on the sides, extensively 
tinged with yellow on the breast and belly. Edge of wing yellow; lesser and middle covert: 
i E i 6 x> at iow 
aye - ¥ wor? 
Fig. 246.— Lark Bunting, 3 9, reduced. (Sheppard del. Nichols sc.) 
