FRINGILLIDjE. 253 



in the third week in April, and, after a short halt, proceeds farther north to 

 breed. It winters in the United States. 



DESCRIPTION 



Of a male, killed at Penetanguishene, on Lake Huron. 



Colour. — Head above, bright chestnut-brown ; ear feathers margined superiorly by a stripe 

 of the same ; a white superciliary line from the bill to the hind head. Upper surface and 

 sides of the neck bluish-grey. Back, wing coverts, and secondaries blackish-brown, lightly 

 bordered with chestnut-brown. Tips of the greater coverts, lower row of lesser coverts, 

 and the outer edges of the tertiaries, white, forming two bands. Primaries, their coverts, 

 and the tail feathers clove-brown, edged with white, particularly the outer pair of the latter. 

 Tail coverts yellowish-grey. Cheeks and the whole under plumage ash-coloured, tinged 

 with yellowish-brown on the flanks. There is also a dark, blackish spot in the middle of 

 the breast. Bill dark-brown, paler beneath. Legs brown. 



Form slightly aberrant. Bill small : a small knob on the posterior part of the palate. 

 Third quill the longest, second and fourth nearly equal to it, first a little shorter than the 

 fifth : secondaries truncated and notched. Tail divaricated, the feathers being nearly 

 equal, except the middle pair, which are two lines shorter. The hind nail is nearly twice 

 the length of the middle one. 



Another specimen, probably a. female, killed, on the 27th of April, at Carlton, differs in 

 the chestnut-coloured feathers of the head being slightly fringed with white, and in the upper 

 plumage in general shewing less of the chestnut. 









Dimensions 

















Of the male. 











Length total 

 „ of tail 

 „ of wing 



Inch. 



. 6 



. 2 



. 3 



Lin. 



3 

 6 

 



Length of bill above . 

 ,, of bill to rictus . 

 „ of tarsus 



Inch. 



. 







. 



Lin. 

 4| 

 5 



9* 



Length of middle toe 

 „ of its claw 

 „ of hind claw 



Inch. Lin. 

 . 6± 

 . 2^ 

 4 



— R. 



The form and general structure of the bill, the great inflection of the man- 

 dibles, and, above all, the emarginate tail and lengthened hind claw, render 

 this species a decided Emberiza, — although the nearly-equal size of the man- 

 dibles points it out as slightly aberrant in its own group. — Sw. 



our present species ! It might have been found as a distinct species in the Synopsis ; but, as such, in the History it 

 disappears. Such synonymes cannot, of course, be cited. Dr. Latham having thus expunged the name of Fringilla 

 Canadensis, his authority can no longer be cited for its correct meaning. — Sw. 



