Page:Ornithological biography, or an account of the habits of the birds of the United States of America, vol 2.djvu/322

286 brown, marked with brownish-black streaks. The middle of the breast and the abdomen greyish-white, tinged with yellowish-brown.

Length 5^ inches, extent of wings 7f ; bill along the back f |, along the edge ^% ; tarsus ii.

The different species can be readily distinguished by attending to the above particulars. MacgiUivray's Finch is in size intermediate between the other two, and in colouring it resembles both, as has been stated above. When the three are together it is very easy to distinguish that species from the rest, by the greater length of the bill and tarsus, and the greater breadth of the black band along the middle of each tail-feather. In all the species, the bills of individuals differ greatly in length, old birds hav- ing them much longer than younger ones.

In the republication of Wilson's Ornithology, by Sir William Jardine, Bart., the editor makes the following statement. — " Mr Audubon has figured a bird very closely aUied in plumage, under the name of Ammodramus Henslowii, and, in the letter-press, has described it as Henslow's Bunting, Emheriza Henslowii. It will evidently come under the first genus, and if new and distinct, will form a third North American species. It is named after Professor Kexslow of Cambridge, and was obtained near Cincinnati. There is no account of its history and habits.'" — Vol. ii. p. 78. I have already shewn that the species is a perfectly distinct one, but its affinities are not with Ammodramus. During my last three years' rambles in the United States, my friends, my assistants, and myself, procured hundreds of specimens of the Henslow's Bunting, and gained much information respecting its habits, which are totally different from those of Fringilla caudacuta or F. maritivia. The Henslow Bunting is never found near salt water marshes, as these species always are, but spends its life on dry elevated meadows and in sandy open pine forests, where it passes the winter in the Southern and Western Districts. As to the similarity of colouring alluded to, I cannot see the least resemblance between the birds in question, in that respect, more than in size or shape. This might have become apparent, had he compared my figure of the Henslow Bunting with that given by Wilson which in my humble opinion is incorrect. I have not represented the nest of F. maritima along with my figures of that bird, although this has been asserted.