The only specimen that we have ever seen of this bird is in the collection of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, to which it was presented by our intimate and valued friend, Thomas M. Brewer, M. D., of the city of Boston, one of the most eminent of American ornithologists, and now particularly devoted to the investigation of the nidification and oology of the birds of this country, the results of which we hope soon to see published. Dr. Brewer obtained the specimen alluded to in Nova Scotia, but could procure no account of it beyond the fact that it was considered as of unusual occurrence in that province.
This bird is very closely allied to the Wheat Ear of Europe (S. œnanthe), and is in all probability of very similar habits. In the absence of positive information we can only suppose it to be an inhabitant of the countries north of the limits of the United States, in which there is a vast extent of territory well adapted to the habits of birds of this group. It is also probably not an abundant species, or it would have been noticed more frequently during its winter migration. But of the ornithology of all the northern portion of the United States from the ninetieth degree of longitude to the Pacific Ocean, or west of the Mississippi river, too little is known to justify any conclusions. Many species of Northern and Western America, of which little or nothing was previously known, have within a few years been demonstrated to be abundant, and such may hereafter prove to be the case with the bird which is the subject of our present article.
The figure in our plate is about two-thirds of the size of life.
The plant represented is Abronia umbellata, a native of western North America.
DESCRIPTION AND TECHNICAL OBSERVATIONS.
Genus Saxicola. Bechstein, Ornithologisches Taschenbuch, p. 216. (1802.)
Bill straight, with the culmen distinct and somewhat ascending into the feathers of the forehead; a few short and weak bristles at the base of the upper mandible, which is rather wide; wing rather long; first quill spurious, third and fourth longest, and nearly equal; tail moderate, wide, truncate; legs long, rather slender. General form adapted to living on the ground.
Saxicola œnanthoides. Vigors, Zool. Voy. Blossom, Ornithology, p. 19. (1839.)
Form. Rather larger than Saxicola œnanthe, but very similar to that species in form and general characters and appearance; wing long; second primary longest; tail moderate or rather short; legs, especially the tarsi, long; bill moderate, rather wide at base.
Dimensions. Total length of skin, about 6½ inches; wing, 4⅛; tail, 3; tarsus, 1¼ inches.