250 
FRINGILLA SAVANNA. 
The very slight distinctions of colour which nature 
has drawn between many distinct species of this family 
of finches, render these minute and tedious descriptions 
absolutely necessary, that the particular species may be 
precisely discriminated. 
166. FRINGILLA SAVANNA , WILSON. SAVANNAH FINCH. 
WILSON, PLATE XXXIV. FIG. IV. MALE. 
The female of this delicately marked sparrow has 
been already taken notice of. The present description 
is from a very beautiful male. 
The length, fi ve and a half inches ; extent, eight and 
a half ; bill, pale brown ; eyebrows, Naples yellow ; 
breast and whole lower parts, pure white, the former 
marked with small pointed spots of brown ; upper 
parts, a pale whitish drab, mottled with reddish brown; 
wing-coverts, edged and tipt with white ; tertials, 
black, edged with white and bay ; legs, pale clay ; 
ear feathers, tinged with Naples yellow. The female 
and young males are less, and much darker. 
This is, probably, the most timid of all our sparrows. 
In winter it frequents the sea-shores ; but, as spring 
approaches, migrates to the interior, as I have lately 
discovered, building its nest in the grass nearly in the 
same form, though with fewer materials, as that of the 
bay-winged bunting. On the 23d of May, I found one 
of these at the root of a clump of rushes in a grass 
field, with three young, nearly ready to fly. The female 
counterfeited lameness, spreading its wings and tail, and 
using many affectionate stratagems to allure me from the 
place. The eggs I have never seen. 
167. FRINGILLA PUSILLA. FIELD SPARROW. 
WILSON, PLATE XVI. FIG. II. 
This is the smallest of all our sparrows, and, in 
Pennsylvania, is generally migratory. It arrives early 
in April, frequents dry fields covered with long grass, 
builds a small nest on the ground, generally at the foot 
