B. Throat white; sides streaked.
3. P. belli. No white superciliary stripe. A dusky spot in middle of the breast. Upper parts ashy, concolored, with indistinct streaks on the back. Wings somewhat more brownish, the coverts with two indistinct light (not white) bands.
α. Wing, 2.50; tail, 2.50; bill, .31; tarsus, .74. Dorsal streaks obsolete. Hab. California … var. belli.
β. Wing, 3.20; tail, 3.20; bill, .35; tarsus, .76. Dorsal streaks distinct. Hab. Middle Province of United States. … var. nevadensis.
Poospiza bilineata, Sclater.
BLACK-THROATED SPARROW.
Emberiza bilineata, Cassin, Pr. A. N. Sc. Ph. V, Oct. 1850, 104, pl. iii, Texas.—Ib. Illust. I, v, 1854, 150, pl. xxiii. Poospiza bilineata, Sclater, Pr. Zoöl. Soc. 1857, 7.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 470.—Ib. Mex. Bound. II, Birds, 15.—Heerm. X, c. 14.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 203.
Poospiza bilineata.
6316
Sp. Char. Above uniform unspotted ashy-gray, tinged with light brown; purer and more plumbeous anteriorly, and on sides of head and neck. Under parts white, tinged with plumbeous on the sides, and with yellowish-brown about the thighs. A sharply defined superciliary and maxillary stripe of pure white, as also the lower eyelid, the former margined internally with black. Loral region black, passing insensibly into dark slate on the ears. Chin and throat between the white maxillary stripes black, ending on the upper part of the breast in a rounded outline. Tail black, the lateral feathers edged externally and tipped on inner web with white. Bill blue. Length, 5.40; wing, 2.75; tail, 2.90. Sexes alike.