74 YELLOW- WINGED BUNTING. 



their way from their unknown winter abode northward, pass toward the 

 middle and eastern districts of our Atlantic coast, while others diverse to 

 reach the Oregon section, in which this bird has been found by Mr. Town- 

 send, passing over our Southern States without being observed, although, 

 when proceeding toward the Texas in April 1S37, I found them abundant 

 on their way eastward. 



In a male preserved in spirits, the palate is ascending, and its ridges form 

 a soft prominence at their junction anteriorly; on the fore part are three 

 narrow ridges, forming a large oblong hard knob at their base. The tongue 

 is A\ twelfths long, deeper than broad, grooved above toward the end, which 

 is horny and pointed. The width of the mouth is 3j twelfths. (Esophagus 

 1 inch S twelfths in length, its greatest width 3j twelfths, it being consider- 

 ably dilated on the neck. Stomach rather small, elliptical, oblique, 6 

 twelfths in length, 5 twelfths in breadth, muscular, and of the usual struc- 

 ture. It contains insects, seeds, and quartz. Intestine 5 inches long, from 

 1^- twelfths to 1 twelfth wide; coeca \\ twelfths long, \ twelfth broad, 7 

 twelfths distant from the extremity. 



Trachea 1 inch 2 twelfths long, from nearly 1 twelfth to \ twelfth wide, 

 its rings 55; inferior laryngeal muscles very large. Bronchi very slender, 

 of about 12 rings. 



Scarcely any difference is perceptible in the plumage of the sexes, and by 

 the time the young return to us the following spring, they have obtained the 

 full plumage of their parents. 



Passes from Texas to Connecticut; breeds from Maryland to Connecticut. 

 Columbia river. Rather common. Migratory. 



Yellow- winged Sparrow, Fringilla passerina, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. iii. p. 76. 

 Fringilla passerina. Bonap. Syn., p. 109. 



Savannah Finch or Yellow-shouldered Bunting, Nutt. Man., vol. i. p. 494. 

 Yellow-crowned Sparrow, Fringilla passerina, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. ii. p. 180; vol. 

 v. p. 497. 



Bill short, conical, acute; upper mandible slightly convex in its dorsal 

 outline, angular, and encroaching a little on the forehead, of the same breadth 

 as the lower, with sharp and inflected edges; lower mandible also inflected 

 on the edges; gap-line slightly deflected at the base. Nostrils basal, round- 

 ish, open, concealed by the feathers. Head rather large, neck short, body 

 full. Feet of moderate length, slender; tarsus covered anteriorly with a 

 few longish scutella, acute behind; toes free, scutellate above, the lateral 

 ones nearly equal; claws slender, compressed, acute, slightly arched, that of 

 the hind toe elongated. 



Plumage soft and blended, slightly glossed. Wings shortish, curved, 



