Plumage soft and blended, but firm. Wings of moderate length, acute; the first quill longest, the second slightly shorter, the other primaries graduated; secondaries slightly emarginate. Tail of moderate length, emarginate, of twelve rather narrow, obliquely pointed feathers.
Bill light blue; iris hazel; feet light brownish-red, claws of the same colour. The upper part of the head, the cheeks and the hind neck are ash-grey, the feathers on the head with a central blackish streak; loral space, a band over the eye, and a shorter one beneath it, bright yellow. The fore part of the back greyish-brown, with longitudinal streaks of brownish-black; the hind parts brownish-grey. The smaller wing-coverts are bright chestnut, the quills and large coverts blackish-brown, the primaries narrowly, the secondaries and their coverts broadly edged with pale greyish-brown. The tail is dark greyish-brown, the feathers faintly margined with paler. The fore neck is light yellow, the throat at first white, then with a large patch of black; the breast, sides, abdomen, legs and lower tail-coverts white, the breast tinged with yellow, the sides with grey; the lower wing-coverts yellow.
Length to end of tail 6 1/2 inches, to end of wings 5, to end of claws 6 1/4; extent of wings 10 3/8; wing from flexure 3 3/8; tail 2 1/2; bill along the ridge 7/12, along the edge of lower mandible 8/12; tarsus 10 1/2/12; hind toe 4 1/2/12, its claw 5 1/2/12,; middle toe 8/12, its claw 4 1/2/12.
Adult Female. Plate CCCLXXXIV. Fig. 2.
The Female has the upper parts coloured as in the male, but paler; the lower parts are also similar, but in place of the black patch on the throat, there are only two dusky lines from the base of the lower mandible, and some faint streaks on the lower part of the neck and the sides.
Length to end of tail 6, to end of wings 4, to end of claws 5 7/8; extent of wings 9; wing from flexure 3; tail 2 5/12; bill along the ridge 6 1/2/12; tarsus 10 1/2/12; hind toe 4 1/2/12, its claw 5/12; middle toe 3/12, its claw 3 1/2/12.
In an adult male, the roof of the mouth has anteriorly three longitudinal ridges, and two lateral grooves; the palate descends obliquely, and at its anterior part has a distinct prominence of a softish texture; from which there passes backwards and outwards, a large soft ridge on each side of the nasal aperture; which is linear and papillate. The tongue is 5 1/2 twelfths long, narrow, deep, trigonal, deeply emarginate and papillate at the base, soft for half its length, convex and hard towards the end, which terminates with bristly points. The œsophagus, a b c d, is 2 1/2 inches long, dilated along the greater part of the neck into a kind of crop, b, 5 twelfths in diameter, lying on the right side along with the trachea. The proventriculus, c d, is not much enlarged. The stomach, e f, is a strong gizzard, of a broad elliptical form, 7 1/2 twelfths in length, 6 1/2 twelfths in breadth. Its contents are small hard seeds, a few remains of insects, and some particles of sand. The epithelium is very tough, longitudinally rugous, and of a dark reddish-brown colour. The intestine, f g h, is 8 1/2 inches long, its greatest diameter 2 twelfths. The rectum, j k l, is 9 twelfths long; the cœca, j, extremely small, being 1 1/2 twelfth long and 1/2 twelfth in diameter.
The trachea, which is 1 inch 10 twelfths long, is rather wide, flattened, of uniform diameter, measuring 1 3/4 inch across, the rings about 55, and ossified. The contractor muscles are of moderate strength; the sterno-tracheal slender; and there are four pairs of inferior laryngeal. The bronchi have about 15 half rings.
In its habits, this bird closely resembles the Common or Corn Bunting of Europe, its flight and notes being almost the same. Like it, our bird alights on walls, fences, detached rocks, or eminences of any kind, where it is often seen even in the immediate neighbourhood of our cities. Indeed, I have found it in full song perched on the trees that ornament the squares of Washington city. In the form of its bill it also agrees with the Buntings, although that organ is proportionally longer and less attenuated toward the end. If, on the principle of minute division, it is not admitted into the genus Emberiza, it must at least occupy a place in its immediate proximity.