476 
U. S. P. E. K. EXP. AND SURVEYS ZOOLOGY GENERAL REPORT. 
SPIZELLA ATRIGrULARIS, Baird. 
Black-chinned Sparrow. 
Spinites atrigularis, Cabanis, Mus. Hein. 1851, 133. 
Struthus atrimentalis, Couch, Pr. A. N. Sc. Phil. VII, April, 1854, 67. 
Sp. Ch. — Tail elongated, deeply forked and divaricated. General color bluish ash, paler beneath, and turning to white on 
the middle of the belly. Interscapular region yellowish rusty, streaked with black. Forehead, loral region, and side of head 
as far as eyes, chin, and upper part of throat black. Quills and tail feathers very dark brown, edged with ashy. Edges of 
coverts like the back. No white bands on the wings. Bill red. Length, 5.50 ; wing, 2.50 ; tail, 3.00. 
Hab. — Mexico just south of the Rio Grande. 
This species is about the size of S. pusilla and socialis, resembling the former most in its still 
longer tail. This is more deeply forked and divaricated with broader feathers than in either. 
The wing is much rounded ; the fourth quill longest ; the first almost the shortest of the 
primaries. 
List of specimens. 
Catal. 
No. 
Sex. 
Locality. When 
j collected. 
Whence obtained. 
Length. 
Stretch 
ofwings. 
Wing. Remarks. 
4335 
8 
AguaNueva, Coahuila,Mex . May, 1853 
7.75 
2.50 Eyes and feet dark brown ; bill light 
red brown. 
MELOSPIZA, Baird. 
Ch. — Body stout. Bill conical, very obsoletely notched, or smooth ; somewhat compressed. Lower mandible not so deep 
as the upper. Commisure nearly straight. Gonys a little curved. Feet stout, not stretching- beyond the tail ; tarsus a little 
longer than the middle toe ; outer toe a little longer than the inner ; its claw not quite reaching to the base of the middle one. 
Hind toe appreciably longer than the middle one. Wings quite short and rounded, scarcely reaching beyond the base of the 
tail ; the tertials considerably longer than the secondaries ; the quills considerably graduated ; the fourth longest ; the first 
not longer than the tertials, and almost the shortest of the primaries. Tail moderately long, and considerably graduated ; the 
feathers oval at the tips. Crown and back similar in color and streaked ; beneath thickly streaked. Tail immaculate. 
This genus differs from Zonotrichia in shorter, more graduated tail, rather longer hind toe, 
much more rounded wing, which is shorter ; the tertiaries longer ; the first quill almost the 
shortest, and not longer than the tertials. The under parts are spotted ; the crown streaked 
and like the back. 
I have placed in this section, which has the Fringilla melodia as its type, the Fringilla palus- 
tris of Wilson. This differs in the uniform rufous crown of the male, streaked, however, in the 
female, and in having only obsolete streaks on the breast. The Fringilla lincolnii is more 
aberrant ; it is spotted beneath, but the wing and first primary are a little longer. These two 
might form a separate section, Helospiza, agreeing in the narrower and shorter tail, smaller 
and more slender bill, more slender toes, &c, with the Fringilla palustr is as type. 
Synopsis of species. 
Melospiza, Baird. 
A. Beneath uniform whitish from chin to anus, thickly streaked on the breast and sides. 
Head streaked. 
Streaks of back and under parts distinctly black in the central portion. Bill stout. 
Prevailing color light reddish gray. Feathers of back edged with gray. Stripes 
of breast with distinct rufous suffusion externally. Wing 2.68 inches.. melodia. 
