168 ' BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES .NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



to the rictus, producing a conspicuous convex lobe; mandibular tomium 

 faintly convex anteriorly, then straight to the distinctly angulated 

 basal deflection. Nostril small, nearly circular, exposed, but" nasal 

 f oasse otherwise filled with feathers. Rictal bristles obvious, but very 

 weak. Wing rather long (nearly four times as long as tarsus), its tip 

 nearly truncated (four outermost primaries abruptly longest, but 

 ninth shorter than sixth); primaries exceeding secondaries by less 

 than length of tarsus; tertials slightly produced beyond secondaries. 

 Tail about three-fourths as long as wing, much inore than its basal half 

 overlaid by upper coverts, slightly double rounded or nearly even, the 

 rectrices rather narrow. Tarsus rather long (more than one-third as 

 long as tail), stout, its scutella indistinct, especially on outer side; 

 middle toe with claw about as long as tarsus or a very little shorter; 

 lateral claws not reaching to base of middle claw; hallux about as 

 long as inner toe, its claw nearly as long as the digit. 



Coloration. — Adult male in summer uniform black, with white 

 wing-coverts; adult male in winter, female, and young conspicuously 

 streaked, the wing with a more or less conspicuous whitish or pale 

 buffy patch. 



Range. — Interior plains of North America. (Monotypic.) 



CALAMOSPIZA MELANOCORYS Stejneger. 

 LARK BUNTING. 



Adult male in summer. — Uniform black, with more or less of a 

 grayish cast on back, etc.; middle and greater wing-coverts mostly 

 white, forming a conspicuous patch; tertials edged with white, and 

 tail-coverts (especialh' the lower) margined with white; outermost 

 rectrices edged with white and sometimes with a large white spot at 

 tip of inner web.^ 



AcIaM female in summer. — Above grayish brown streaked with duskj' ; 

 wings with a white patch, as in the male, but this smaller, more inter- 

 rupted, and more or less tinged with buffy; under parts white, streaked 

 on breast, sides, etc., with dusky. 



Adult male in winter. — Similar to adult female, but feathers of under 

 parts, especially on abdomen, black beneath the surface (this showing 

 where feathers are disarranged); chin black. 



Adidt female in vjinter. — Similar to the summer female, but less 

 grayish brown and with the paler markings more stronglv tinged with 

 buff. 



Young. — Siioilar to adult female, but more buffj', with feathers of 

 upper parts margined with buffy white, and streaks on under parts 

 narrower. 



^ These minor white markings are conspicuous only in fresh plumage and disappear 

 by abrasion, being therefore usually absent in midsummer specimens. 



