SPIZA.— CALAMOSPIZA. 417 



This bird is a winter visitant to Mexico and Central America, occurring at many points 

 in the former country, even as far westwards as Mazatlan, where, however, Grayson tells 

 us it is rare, only two specimens having been procured by him, which were shot in the 

 month of August ^^- In Guatemala we but seldom met with it, and only in localities 

 lying near the coast of the Pacific ocean or on the mountains sloping in that direction. 

 But on the coast of Yucatan and thence to Honduras, especially on the islands from 

 Cape Catoche to Euatan, it would appear to be very abundant, Mr. Gaumer having 

 recently sent us specimens from all the islands he visited during a voyage from Yucatan 

 to Kuatan. Being thus common on this coast, it is somewhat strange that it has not 

 been recorded from Cuba, Dr. Gundlach being silent as to its presence there. 



S. americana frequents grassy places, and its notes are described as unmusical. The 

 nest is said by some observers to be placed a little above the ground in a bush of some 

 sort, others say that it is placed on the ground ; it is formed of coarse grasses and 

 stems, and lined with similar finer materials. The eggs are of a uniform light blue 

 colour. 



CALAMOSPIZA. 



Calamospiza, Bonaparte, Comp. List, p. 30 (1838) ; Baird, Brew., & Ridgw. N. Am. B. ii. p. 60; 

 Coues, Key N. Am. B. ed. 2, p. 386. 



A monotypic genus containing the single species C. bicolor, an inhabitant of the more 

 arid portions of Central North America and similar places in Northern and Central 

 Mexico. 



Calamospiza is usually placed next Spiza, to which, doubtless, it has a remote rela- 

 tionship, but the peculiar black colouring of the male and the great diversity of the 

 sexes, the gregarious habits of the bird, and some structural characters all point to its 

 isolation. 



The bill is stout, the culmen turgid towards its base, the nostrils being deeply sunk 

 in the nasal fossa; the tomia is.angulated and rather deeply constricted beyond the 

 angle, between which and the constriction is a denticular process ; the rictal bristles 

 are strong. The wing is long and pointed, the first to the fourth quills bemg the 

 longest; the secondaries are long, and reach almost to the wing-tip. The feet are 

 stout, the middle toe and tarsus being subequal. The hind claw is short and not 

 straightened. 



1. Calamospiza bicolor. 



Fringilla bicolor, Towns. Joum. Ac. Phil. vii. p. 189 '. 



Calamospiza bicolor, Baird, Mex. Bound. Surr. ii., Birds, p. 16»; Dresser, Ibis, 1865, p. 490 ; 



Dug^s, La Nat. i. p. 140 ^ Baird, Brew., & Ridgw. N. Am. B. ii. p. 61 = ; Sennett, Bull. 



U. S. Geol. Surv. v. p. 391°; Belding, Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. vi. p. 343 ^ 

 Calamospiza melamcorys, Stejn. Auk, ii. p. 49^ Check-List N. A. B. p. 290'. 

 Nigra; secundariis extus et tectrioibus alarum intennediis albis, caudae rectricibus duabus extemis albo in 



BIOL. CBNTK.-AMEE., Aves, Vol. I., November 1886. 53 



