376 
SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —PASSEMES — OSCINES. 
Analysis of Species. 
Adult with throat black, sides not streaked, and no yellow on edge of wing bilineata '2Z8 
Adult with throat white, sides streaked, and yellow on edge of wing. 
Smaller : wing and tail under 3.00 ; dorsal streaks obsolete belli 259 
Larger: wing and tail 3.00 or more ; dorsal streaks distinct nevaclensis 260 
258. A. bilinea'ta. (Lat. bilineata, two-lined ; bis, twice, Unea, a line ; alluding to the stripes on 
the head. Fig. 235.) Black-throated Finch. Black-faced Sage Sparrow. 
adult : Face, chin, and throat sharply jet-black ; a strong white superciliary line, and another 
bounding the black of the throat ; under eyelid white ; auriculars dark slate. Ko yellow any- 
where. Below, pure white; the sides, flanks, and crissum shaded with ashy or fulvous- 
^^^^ brownish, but no streaks. Above, uniform gray- 
^^^Si^^ ^^^^^ ish-brown ; clearer ash in high plumage, other- 
wise browner, generally more ashy anteriorly than 
behind, and shading insensibly into the black of 
" --Ij^^^^^. the face. Wings dusky; coverts and inner quills 
^•^^^^i^^SHl^^^ rl^^^^Be- edged with the color of the back. Tail black, 
^ -I _ with narrow grayish edgings ; the outer feather 
sharply edged and tipped with white, and several 
others similarly tipped. Bill and feet plumbe- 
^^■^^ _ 3^ ous-black. Small: length about 5.50; wing 
^^•Q^^^^^^y. \ ^. about 2.50; tail 2.75. Young : The head-mark- 
-i-"Xr?3F^i^^^^^ft^^^^^" ^ ings obscure; little or no black on throat; a few 
\\% pectoral strealfs. Owing to absence of black on 
the throat, the white maxillary stripe is ill-de- 
FiG. 235.— Black-throated Finch, reduced. (Shep- fined, but the Other stripe is conspicuous. Back 
parddel. Nichols sc.; ^^^^^.^ than ashy ; tail blackish, not pure 
black. A jaunty little sparrow, haunting the sage-brush and chaparral of the southwest, from 
Texas to California, N. to Utah and Nevada or farther, migratory northerly. An effective 
songster. Nest in bushes close to the ground; eggs 4-5, 0.72 X 0.58, whitish, unmarked. 
259. A. belli. (To J. G. Bell, of N. Y.) Bell's Finch. California Sage Sparrow. No 
definite black about head, and edge of wing slightly yellowish. Forehead, line over eye, and 
edges of eyelids, inconspicuously white. Below, white, more or less tinged with pale brownish, 
the sides with slight sparse streaks that anteriorly become aggregated into slight maxillary 
stripes cutting off from the white throat a whitish line that runs from the corner of the bill ; 
lores and circum-ocular region dusky. Above, grayish- brown, ashier on head, the middle of the 
back with small obscure blackish streaks ; wing-coverts and inner quills with much fulvous 
edging ; tail black with slight pale edgings, the outer web of the outer feather simply whitish. 
Bill and feet plumbeous-blue. Length under 6.00 ; wing and tail under 3.00. Southern 
California, resident. Nest in low bushes or on the ground ; eggs greenish-blue, speckled. 
260. A. b. nevaden'sis. Artemisia Sparrow. Nevada Sage Sparrow. Similar to the last 
in coloration. Edge of wing, and sometimes the lesser coA-erts, yellowish. Above, ashy-brown, 
much as in P. bilineata, clearer ash anteriorly, more brownish behind ; also clearer in high 
plumage, and more overcast with brown in less mature specimens ; the middle of the back and 
the scapulars very notably streaked with fine black lines. Below, white ; the sides and some- 
times, especially in fall specimens, most of the under parts shaded with pale fulvous-brown ; the 
sides, and sometimes the breast, with dusky streaks, which on the side of the neck tend to run 
in a chain, partly distinguishing a pure white lateral stripe above them from the general 
whitish of the under parts. Sides of head slaty, becoming dusky on lores ; a conspicuous white 
eye-ring. A short white line above lores, and another on middle of forehead. Wings and tail 
as in the last ; outer feather edged and tipped Avith white. Bill dark bluish-plumbeous, under 
