Page:Ornithological biography, or an account of the habits of the birds of the United States of America, vol 2.djvu/218

182 This species forms part of a group more allied to the Buntings than to the Finches, and composed of Henslow's Bunting or Finch, the Sa- vannah Finch, and the Yellow-winged Sparrow. They are all very closely allied, so that it is somewhat difficult to distinguish them.

Let us compare the Yellow-winged Sparrow in the first place, with the Henslow Bunting, described at p. 360 of Vol. I.

In Henslow's Bunting the bill is smaller, and has the margin less sinuous ; the tarsi are shorter, being only Vg (erroneously | in the de- scription), while those of the present species are |. The feet of the lat- ter are also stronger, and the toes a little longer. The colouring of the upper parts is very similar ; but the present species has a distinct white line along the middle of the head, whereas the other has the same part of the general olivaceous tint of the hind-neck, the quills are differently coloured on their margins, and while the present species is unspotted on the breast and sides, the other is distinctly streaked.

But besides these differences the feathers present others still more de- cisive. The tail of Henslow's Bunting is 2| inches long, graduated, with narrower feathers, which taper to a point, while that of the Yellow- winged Sparrow is only % rounded, much stronger, with broader (though still very narrow) feathers, having a narrow rounded point. Then in the first the secondaries are so long as to be only -^^ shorter than the longest primary, whereas in the second they are ^ inch shorter. In the first the third quill is longest, while in the second the first exceeds the others, although in neither is there any great difference between the first three quills in length.

But the Yellow- winged Sparrow is much more closely allied to the Savannah Finch than to Henslow's Bunting.

The colouring of the upper parts is almost the same, but the Savan- nah Finch has very little of the bright bay tints, and the flexure of the wing is so slightly tinged with yellow that one might be apt to overlook it. There is a central whitish streak on the head of the Savannah Finch, as on that of the Yellow- winged Sparrow. The great difference in colour- ing lies in the circumstance, that while the throat, breast, and sides of the latter are unspotted, those of the former are very conspicuously marked with longitudinal dark brown streaks, margined with reddish-brown.

The bills and feet are of the same form, but the bill of the Savannah Finch is much less robust, and its feet rather more so. In the Savannah Finch the secondaries are proportionally as long as in the Henslow Bunt-