Plate XLVIII. 
Fig 2. POUCETES GRAMIUEUS— Grass Finch. 
The Bay-winged Bunting, or Grass-finch, is one of the commonest birds of the State. It arrives 
about the 1st of April, and remains until November, or later. During the summer it frequents 
pastures and poorly cultivated fields, especially fields of grass and clover. It is often seen feeding along the 
public road or wallowing in the dust. It may always be easily recognized by the one or more wholly or 
partly white feathers upon either side of its tail. These feathers are very conspicuous when the bird 
flies, and afford a ready means of distinguishing it at a distance from other species which it closely re- 
sembles in size and general color. The nest is built in May for the first brood and in July for the second. 
LOCALITY : 
The locality chosen for the nest is generally a barren field, with here and there little clumps of grass 
or weeds. Both high lands and low lands are frequented. Occasionally, the nest is placed in the border of 
a wood or even along a road side. 
POSITION : 
The nest is always situated upon the ground in a slight concavity, usually unprotected by any 
vegetation; but sometimes it is built at the root of a thistle or other weed, and, rarely, is in a little bunch 
of grass or among straggling stems of clover. The concavity is generally a natural one. The bird may 
scratch it out some and smooth it, but she rarely if ever makes the entire excavation. The rim of the 
nest is usually but little above the surrounding ground. 
MATERIALS: \\ 
The nest is a very simple affair. The foundation and superstructure consist chiefly of a few weed- 
stems, grasses, straws, and rootlets, entwined and matted together, and the lining is made of a few grasses, 
rootlets, and horse-hairs. The average diameter of the cavity is about two and seven-eighths inches, its depth 
about three quarters of an inch: the external diameter -is generally about four and one-half or five inches. 
A nest before me is composed as follows: The foundation consists of rather coarse weed-stems and 
weed-rootlets, loosely arranged in the concavity and most abundant about the periphery. Next is a compact 
layer about three-eighths of an inch thick of dead and blackened blades of blue-grass mixed with a few 
weed-stems. This makes up the bulk of the nest. The lining is composed of a few white horse-hairs 
and a few very fine whitish rootlets, arranged circularly. The entire nest just as lifted from its 
position weighs only one half an ounce. The nests which I have observed have not varied much from 
the' one described. The materials of course vary somewhat with locality and individual fancy, but 
there is much uniformity in structure as a whole. 
169 
