PLECTROPHANES. 
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pale reddish brown. The secondaries and coverts 
are of a darker tint, broadly edged with chestnut, 
and the shoulders are nearly entirely of that 
colour. The centre tail feathers are grayish 
brown, paler on the edges, the others black, the 
two exterior ones with white running diagonally 
from the base to the tip of the inner web. The 
breast and flanks are grayish white, the feathers 
of the sides of the breast and flanks streaked along 
the centre with brownish black ; belly, vent, and 
under tail coverts pure white. In the female, 
shades of brown and chestnut predominate over 
the black. There is no black or white on the 
head, the place of that colour being indicated by 
a darker chestnut ; from each eye and over the 
auriculars there is a pale reddish white streak. 
The upper parts are reddish brown, varied by 
the dark centres of the feathers, and on the 
breast and flanks the colour is pale yellowish 
brown, shading into white on the centre of the 
belly, and streaked along the feathers of the 
breast and flanks with chestnut red. 
Our next form is one previously associated 
with the Buntings, but lately placed with a few 
others into a separate genus, standing inter- 
mediate between the true Buntings and Larks. 
It has been designated Plectrophanes or Lark 
Bunting. In habits the birds differ from the 
Buntings, in keeping constantly upon the ground, 
being possessed of very ample powers of flight, 
and in being mostly gregarious. The bill in form 
