A Synopsis of the Birds of North America

by John James Audubon

Plate CCCLV. Male and Female.

Second, third, and fourth quills longest, first and seventh equal; tail rounded. Upper parts dull olivaceous-grey, streaked with blackish-brown, the central parts of all the feathers being of the latter colour; margin of the wing at the flexure yellowish-white; all the feathers of the wings dusky brown, margined with pale olivaceous; tail-feathers blackish-brown, margined with olivaceous; a yellowish-brown streak from the base of the upper mandible over the eye; throat and fore neck greyish-white, with an indistinct dusky streak on each side; breast and sides pale dull yellowish-grey marked with brownish-black streaks; middle of the breast and abdomen greyish-white, tinged with yellowish-brown; lower tail-coverts pale yellowish-brown, with a central dusky streak.

Male, 5¹/₂, 7³/₄.

Abundant in Texas and along the Gulf of Mexico. Rather rare in South Carolina, from which it migrates in autumn.

Macgillivray's Finch, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. ii. p. 285; v. iv. p. 394; v. v. p. 499.

174. 3. Ammodramus caudacutus, Lath. Buff-breasted Shore-Finch.—Sharp-tailed Finch.

Plate CXLIX. Male and Female.

Second, third, and fourth quills longest, first and fifth equal; tail graduated. Upper part of the head with a central bluish-grey streak, deep brown at the sides with the feathers black in the centre; hind neck dull grey, tinged with brown; back brown, tinged with grey, some of the feathers marked with black and edged with greyish-white; quills dusky brown, edged with reddish-brown, the secondary and smaller coverts with their outer webs chiefly of the latter colour; tail-feathers dusky brown, margined with greyish-olive; a broad band of light yellowish-red from the base of the upper mandible over the eye, and extending beyond the middle of the neck, where it is broader; ear-coverts grey; a broad band of yellowish-red from the lower mandible down the neck; throat whitish, with a line of dusky streaks on each side; the lower part of the neck, a portion of the breast, the lower tail-coverts, and the sides, pale yellowish-red, streaked with dusky; the rest of the lower parts white.

Male, 5, 7¹/₄.

Breeds from Texas along the coast to Massachusetts. Never in the interior. Resident in the Southern States. Very abundant.