_Emberiza henslowi_, AUD. Orn. Biog. I, 1831, 360, pl. lxxvii.—IB.
Syn. 1839, 104.—IB. Birds Am. III, 1841, 75, pl. clxiii.—NUTTALL,
Man. I, 1832, App. _Coturniculus henslowi_, BON. List, 1838.—IB.
Conspectus, 1850, 481.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 451.—MAYNARD,
Birds E. Mass. 1870, 117.—SAMUELS, 306. _Fringilla henslowi_,
NUTTALL, Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 571.
[Illustration: _Coturniculus passerinus._]
SP. CHAR. Upper parts yellowish-brown, the hood, neck, and upper parts
of back tinged with greenish-yellow. Interscapular feathers dark
brown, suffused externally with bright brownish-red; each feather with
grayish borders. Tertiaries, rump, and tail-feathers abruptly dark
chestnut-brown, darkest centrally, paler externally, and narrowly
margined with gray. Crown with a broad black spotted stripe on each
side; these spots continued down to the back. Two narrow black
mandibular stripes and one post-ocular on each side of the head, and
an obscure black crescent or spot behind the auriculars. Under parts
light brownish-yellow, paler on the throat and abdomen. The jugulum,
upper part of the breast, and the sides of the body, conspicuously
streaked with black. Edge of wing yellow. A strong tinge of pale
chestnut on the wings and tail. The median tail-feathers and upper
coverts chestnut or rufous brown, with sharply defined shaft-streaks
of black. Length, 5.25; wing, 2.15; tail, 2.15.
HAB. Eastern United States as far north as Massachusetts; westward to
the Loup Fork of Platte.
This species is related to _C. passerinus_, but readily distinguished
by the well-marked stripes on breast and sides, the greenish-yellow,
not chestnut-brown, of head and nape, and the two mandibular dusky
stripes. The middle tail-feathers are reddish with only a very narrow
sharply defined median shaft-streak of black, instead of having the
greater portion of the centre dusky with scalloped edges. I have not
seen young birds, but they probably differ little from the adults.
HABITS. The history and general distribution of Henslow’s Bunting is
still somewhat imperfectly known. Mr. Audubon first met with it, in
1820, in Kentucky, nearly opposite to Cincinnati. It was seen on the
ground, amongst the tall grass, and is said to have exhibited all the
peculiarities of this tribe. He was afterwards informed that this bird
is abundant in the State of New Jersey, and that it breeds there; and
in evidence of this he mentions receiving a specimen from Dr. Trudeau,
obtained by that gentleman himself. Mr. Audubon also mentions that
both Dr. Bachman and he have procured a great number in South
Carolina, where they abound, in the latter part of autumn, and where,
also, a portion remain during the winter. In Florida, Mr. Audubon
again met with these birds in the winter. They were in great numbers
in all the pine barrens of that State, in light and sandy soil, and in
woods but thinly overgrown by tall pines. They never alight on trees,
but spend their time on the ground, running with great rapidity
through the grass, in the manner of a mouse.
In New Jersey they were found in ploughed fields, where they are
presumed to have been overlooked and mistaken for the Yellow-winged
Sparrow. Mr. Audubon supposed that they were not found farther
eastward than that State.
Specimens in the Smithsonian collection have been procured in Georgia
in December; in Maryland in July; at Fort Riley, Kansas, Southern
Illinois, and in Nebraska, in June.
In Massachusetts they are regular summer visitants, though as yet they
have been met with in only a few instances and in a somewhat
restricted locality. They are now met with nearly every year, and
several nests have been taken. Mr. Maynard obtained two specimens, May
10, in a wet meadow in Newton. Their song-note he describes as like
the syllables _see-wick_, the first syllable prolonged, the latter
given quickly. This bird was first obtained in Berlin, in that State,
by Mr. E. S. Wheeler, who discovered its nest and eggs. It was
mistaken for Bachman’s Finch, and was at first so placed on the
record, though the error was immediately corrected. Since then, in
that town, and in one or two others in its neighborhood, other nests
have been met with. Mr. William Brewster obtained several specimens in
Lexington, May 14, 1872. It is quite probable that it has been
confounded with _C. passerinus_, and it is now supposed to be more
common in the eastern part of the State than that bird.
One specimen of this Bunting was taken near Washington, during the
summer season, from which circumstance Dr. Coues gives it as an
exceedingly rare summer resident of the District of Columbia.
In 1871, Mr. Ridgway ascertained that, so far from being rare,
Henslow’s Bunting is very abundant on the prairies of Southern
Illinois, as well as the Yellow-winged species, but far exceeding the
latter in numbers. Though entirely similar to that bird in habits and
manners, it may be readily distinguished by its note, which is said to
be an abrupt _pil-lut_, much more like the common summer-call of the
Shore Lark than the lisped grasshopper-like chirp of the _C.
passerinus_, and to be uttered as the bird perches on the summit of a
tall weed, the tail being depressed, and the head thrown back at each
utterance. A number of unidentified eggs were sent to me several years
since, by Mr. Kennicott, from near Chicago. They resembled somewhat
the eggs of _C. passerinus_, but were not the eggs of that species. I
have now no doubt they belonged to this bird.
The nest is built in the ground, in a depression, or apparently an
excavation scratched out by the bird itself, and is a well-made
structure of coarse, dry, and soft reeds and grasses, well lined with
finer materials of the same description. The eggs, five or six in
number, somewhat resemble those of the _C. passerinus_. Their
ground-color is a clear bright white, and they are spotted with
well-defined reddish-brown markings, and more subdued tints of purple.
The markings, so far as I have seen their eggs, are finer and fewer
than those of _C. passerinus_, and are distributed more exclusively
around the larger end. The eggs measure .78 by .60 of an inch, and are
of a more oblong-oval than those of the common Yellow-Wing.
Coturniculus lecontei, BONAP.