FRINGILLID^: FINCHES, BUNTINGS, SPARROWS, ETC. 375 
feathers, sometimes spreading almost to extinction of the ashy ; and the brown also varying in 
shade from a kind of purplish -bay to light rusty-brown, apparently according to wear and tear 
of the plumage. Wings and tail dusky, with varying amount of reddish-brown edgings of the 
feathers. Under parts dull whitish, strongly shaded with olive-gray or olive-brown, paler on 
belly, quite whitish on throat, which latter is bounded by strong black maxillary stripes. Size 
of P. cassinij or rather less. Young : Crown like back ; under parts streaked with dusky, 
especially the breast. California. Nest and eggs still unknown. 
256. P. r. boucar'di. (To Adolphe Boucard, a French collector.) Boucard's Summer Finch. 
From the typical Californian ruficeps the Arizona bird is said to differ in being darker, more 
brownish-plumbeous than olive-ash, the dorsal streaks scarcely ruft)us, and with black shaft- 
streaks. Few sparrows, if any, vary more than the species of Peuccea, according to mere wear 
of the feathers, independently of any moult, and to some extent of season. Birds of very 
different aspect result, and it is not clear how the present alleged variety differs from ruficeps 
proper. Obs. P. r. eremceca Brown, Texas, seems scarcely different. Peuccea seems to be, 
like Junco, Melospiza, Passer ella, etc., still unstable in its specific differentiations — to be 
" making species," in fact. 
25T. P. carpa'lis. (Lat. carpalis, relating to the carpus, or wTist-joint.) Bay- winged Summer 
Finch. Belonging to the section without yellow on edge of wing. Lesser wing-coverts 
chestnut, forming a patch as conspicuous as in Pocecetes or Auriparus. Strong black maxillary 
stripes. Whole crown rufous, or dull bay, divided on forehead by a short pale stripe, and 
bordered with a pale grayish-ash superciliary stripe. Cervix like cro\Am, but mixed with ashy- 
gray. Middle of back and scapulars grayish-brown, mixed with a little bay, and sharply 
streaked with blackish ; lower back gray, with little or no black or brown. The general effect 
of the upper parts, crown, and back, is like that of SpizeUa socialis. Wings and their greater 
coverts dusky, with grayish-fulvous edging and tipping ; primaries and tail-feathers with 
whitish edging ; one or two outer tail-feathers white-tipped. Under parts white, shaded on 
breast and sides with ashy, the throat pure white, bounded on each side by a sharp black 
maxillary stripe, above which is another dark line from angle of mouth. Bill apparently 
reddish flesh color below, dusky above ; feet pale brown, the toes rather darker. Length about 
6.00; extent 8.50; wing 2.25-2.50; tail 2.75, graduated about 0.50; bill 0.40; tarsus 0.67. 
Less mature : Crown less different from back, being streaked with ashy, blackish, and rufous. 
Very young : No chestnut on wing-coverts, and under parts streaked with dusky ; thus much 
like the earliest stage of Spizella socialis; after this first stage the chestnut bend of the wing is 
always conspicuous. Arizona ; a very distinct and curious species, lately discovered. Farther 
peculiar in nesting in bushes and laying a greenish egg, all the other Peiiccece, as far as known 
nesting on ground and laying pure white eggs. (P. ruficeps, however, is not yet known in 
this particular.) Eggs 4-5, 0.72 X 0.58, June-September; nest in a fork of bush, deeply 
cupped, of grasses, rootlets, and hairs. 
SI. AMPHISPI'ZA. (Gr. dfi(j)i, amphi, on both sides ; am^a, spiza, a finch : alluding to the close 
relation of the genus to those about it.) Sage Sparrows. Bill moderate, conical, not peculiar. 
Wings folding considerably beyond the base of the tail, without elongated inner secondaries ; 
point of wing formed by 2d-5th quill, the 1st between 6th and 7th. Tail not shorter than wings, 
of rather broad firm feathers, rounded at ends. Tarsus longer than middle toe and claw ; lateral 
toes of unequal lengths, the outer (longer) not reaching to base of middle claw. Embracing two 
Southwestern species, with rounded blackish tail not shorter than the wings, plumbeous-black 
bill and feet, and few decided streaks, or none. These do not particularly resemble each other, 
and might not necessarily be associated ; nor is the genus well characterized, though different 
from the exotic Poospiza to which the species were formerly referred. The larger one of the 
two species, A. belli, is sometimes placed in the genus Zonotrichia. 
