52 
NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 
'Wwm 
'im 
few ,.t 
r 
Junco. Tail very nearly equal to the wings, slightly emarginate, and 
decidedly rounded. Outer toe rather longer than inner, reaching the 
middle claw. No streaks anywhere except in young ; black or ash- 
color above ; belly white ; with or without a rufous back and sides. 
Outer tail-feathers white. (Page 56.) 
Poospiza. Tail lengthened, slightly graduated ; the feathers unusually 
broad to the end. Bill slender. Wings about as long as the tail, reach- 
ing but little beyond its external base. Tertials broad, and, with the 
secondaries, rather lengthened. Second to fifth quills nearly equal, and 
longest. Bill dark lead-color. Tail black. Uniform ashy-brown 
above ; white beneath. Sides of head with stripes of black and white. 
IT (Page 57.) 
b. Tail decidedly forked ; a little shorter than the wing, sometimes a little 
longer. 
Spizella. Size rather small. Wings long. Lower mandible largest. 
Uniform beneath, or with a pectoral spot or the chin black. (Page 57.) 
C. Tail lengthened and graduated ; decidedly longer than the wings, which are 
very short, scarcely extending beyond the external base of the tail. Feet reach- 
ing but little beyond the middle of the tail. Species all streaked above ; streaked 
or nearly unicolor beneath. No white on wings or tail. Outer lateral toe the 
longer. First quill not the shortest of the primaries. (Melospizeae.) 
Melospiza. Culmen and commissure nearly straight. Claws stout; 
hinder one as large as its digit. Tail-feathers rather broad. Body 
streaked beneath. j^(Page_59.) t~- OQ U | 
Peucaea. Culmen and commissure curved. Claws weak ; hinder one 
not much curved, decidedly shorter than its digit. Tail-feathers narrow. 
Without streaks beneath, excepting a narrow maxillary stripe. (Page 
60.) 
!>. Tail rather short, and much graduated ; longer than the wings ; the midrib 
more median. Culmen curved. Tarsus considerably longer than middle toe. 
Outer toe longer. But little difference in the length of the quills; the outer 
ones much rounded ; even the second quill is shorter than any other primary 
except the first. 
Embernagra. Color, olive-green above. (Page 61.) 
Genus CENTRONYX, Baird. (Page 51.) 
C. bairdi. Somewhat similar in general appearance to* Passer cuius savanna. Back 
grayish, streaked with dusky. Crown nearly covered by black streaks, but divided by 
a broad median band of brownish-yellow. Eyelids and a faint superciliary stripe yel- 
lowish-white. Beneath white, with a maxillary blackish stripe and some narrow streaks 
on the upper part of the breast, and sides of the throat and body. Bend of wing white. 
Length, 4.75; wing, 2.80; tail, 2.20. Nesting unknown. Hab. Mouth of the Yellow- 
stone River. ( Baird’s Bunting.') 
Genus FASSERCULITS, Bonap. (Page 51.) 
Species and Varieties^ 
Common Characters. Above grayish-brown, beneath white ; whole upper 
surface, as well as the breast and sides, streaked with dusky. Alight super- 
ciliary stripe, and a whitish maxillary one, the latter bordered above and below 
by stripes of coalesced dusky streaks. Nests on the ground. 
