252 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 



DESCRIPTION 



Of a specimen {sex not ascertained), killed May 14, 1827. 



Colour. — General cast of the ground of the upper plumage light clay-colour, or yellowish- 

 brown, which edges all the feathers of the wings and tail, and becomes French-grey towards 

 the nape ; the middle of each feather having a dark blackish-brown stripe down the middle, 

 most conspicuous on those of the back : these spots are crowded into two stripes on the 

 head, between which is a paler line ; over each eye is another, much more conspicuous, and 

 whiter. Ears yellowish-brown, with a darker edging, and bordered below with a stripe 

 whiter than the throat. Lesser or smallest wing covers without spots ; the row adjoining the 

 greater covers black, with whitish tips ; the rest of the covers and quills edged with the same. 

 Under plumage white, tinged very slightly with grey, and, on the breast and flanks, with clay- 

 colour. Bill and legs yellowish, the ridge and tip of the former umber-brown. 



Form, nearly typical, taking the Emberiza schoeniclus as one of the best examples of the 

 group. Bill of the same size, but rather more conic than that of E. pusilla, and the notch, 

 in both, can scarcely be distinguished; the upper mandible is nearly as thick as the under, 

 and the margins much inflexed. In the structure and proportion of its wings, feet, and tail 

 it perfectly resembles Emb. schamiclus.* — Sw. 









Dimensions. 

















Inch. 



Lin. 





Inch. 



Lin. 







Inch. 



Lin. 



Length total 



. 5 



9 



Length of bill above . 



. 



4 



Length 



of middle toe . 



. 



6 



„ of tail 



2 



8 



„ of bill to rictus . 







5 



55 



of its nail . 



. 



2 



,, of wing 



. 2 



6 



,, of tarsus 



. 



7* 



55 



of hind toe 



. 



3 















55 



of its nail . 



. 



21 



[69.] 5. Emberiza Canadensis. (Swainson.) Tree-Buntling. 



Genus, Emberiza, Linn. 



Mountain Sparrow (Hen). Edwards, pi. 269 ; lower figure. 



Fringilla montanaf . Forster, Phil. Trans., lxii., p. 405, No. 29. 



Tree Sparrow. Penn. Arct. ZooL, ii., p. 373, No. 246. Wilson, ii., p. 123, pi. 16, f. 3. 



Fringilla Canadensis. Bonaf. Syn.,-p. 109, N. 175. 



The Tree-Buntling arrives, in small flocks, on the banks of the Saskatchewan 



s The Fringilla socialis is also an Emberiza, although, perhaps, the most aberrant species in America. The F. 

 melodia of Wilson seems to connect this group with Zonotrichia. The African Emberiza differ only from the Ame- 

 rican in the length of their tertiary quills, thus leading to the true Larks. — Sw. 



t The error of confounding this species with the Fringilla montana, L., of Britain, originated in one of the very 

 few mistakes of Edwards. This error was adopted by Dr. Latham, who, nevertheless, describes our present bird a 

 second time under the name of " Mountain Sparrow," {Gen. Syn., iii., p. 265,) copying his description and name of 

 Canadensis from Brisson. Pennant, and subsequently Wilson, rectified this error; yet, notwithstanding all this, Dr. 

 Latham not only continues to confound both these species in his General History, but, by a most strange and unac- 

 countable mistake, leaves out his Mountain Sparrow ; thus actually destroying the only distinct record in his work of 



