Dr. Coues furnishes me with the following additional information in regard to this species: “This is not a common bird at Fort Whipple, and was only observed from April to October. It unquestionably breeds in that vicinity, as I shot very young birds, in August, wanting the distinctive head-markings of the adult. A pair noticed in early April were seemingly about breeding, as the male was in full song, and showed, on dissection, highly developed sexual organs. The song is very agreeable, not in the least recalling the monotonous ditty of the Chip Bird, or the rather weak performances of some other species of the genus. In the latter part of summer and early autumn the birds were generally seen in small troops, perhaps families, in weedy places, associating with the western variety of _Spizella socialis_, as well as with Goldfinches.” Lieutenant Couch met with individuals of this species at Agua Nueva, in Coahuila, Mexico, in May, 1853. They were found in small flocks among the mountains. Their nest and eggs are unknown. GENUS MELOSPIZA, BAIRD. _Melospiza_, BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1868, 478. (Type, _Fringilla melodia_, WILS.) [Line drawing: _Melospiza melodia._ 2637 ♂] GEN. CHAR. Body stout. Bill conical, very obsoletely notched, or smooth; somewhat compressed. Lower mandible not so deep as the upper. Commissure nearly straight. Gonys a little curved. Feet stout, not stretching beyond the tail; tarsus a little longer than the middle toe; outer toe a little longer than the inner; its claw not quite reaching to the base of the middle one. Hind toe appreciably longer than the middle one. Wings quite short and rounded, scarcely reaching beyond the base of the tail; the tertials considerably longer than the secondaries; the quills considerably graduated; the fourth longest; the first not longer than the tertials, and almost the shortest of the primaries. Tail moderately long, rather longer from coccyx than the wings, and considerably graduated; the feathers oval at the tips, and not stiffened. Crown and back similar in color, and streaked; beneath thickly streaked, except in _M. palustris_. Tail immaculate. Usually nest on ground; nests strongly woven of grasses and fibrous stems; eggs marked with rusty-brown and purple on a ground of a clay color. This genus differs from _Zonotrichia_ in the shorter, more graduated tail, rather longer hind toe, much more rounded wing, which is shorter; the tertiaries longer; the first quill almost the shortest, and not longer than the tertials. The under parts are spotted; the crown streaked, and like the back. [Illustration: _Melospiza melodia._]