The fact that this species has been found by Mr. Sumichrast to be a permanent resident throughout all the temperate regions of Vera Cruz is a very interesting one, and is suggestive of different manners and habits from those supposed to belong to it as a bird allied with the _Ammodrami_. They are abundant, and breed there, as in the United States, but nothing is given throwing any positive light upon their general habits. GENUS EMBERNAGRA, LESSON. _Embernagra_, LESSON, Traité d’Ornith., 1831 (AGASSIZ). (Type, _Saltator viridis_, VIEILLOT.) GEN. CHAR. Bill conical, elongated, compressed; the upper outline considerably curved, the lower straight; the commissure slightly concave, and faintly notched at the end. Tarsi lengthened; considerably longer than the middle toe. Outer toe a little longer than the inner, not reaching quite to the base of the middle claw. Hind toe about as long as the middle without its claw. Wings very short, and much rounded; the tertials nearly equal to the primaries; the secondaries a little shorter; the outer four primaries much graduated, even the second shorter than any other quill. The tail is moderate, about as long as the wings, much graduated; the feathers rather narrow, linear, and elliptically rounded at the end; the outer webs more than usually broad in proportion to the inner, being more than one third as wide. The upper parts are olive-green, the under whitish. The position of this genus is a matter of considerable uncertainty. On some accounts it would be better placed among the _Spizinæ_. There are numerous tropical species of this genus; none of them are nearly allied, however, to the single North American species. Embernagra rufivirgata, LAWRENCE. TEXAS SPARROW. _Embernagra rufivirgata_, LAWRENCE, Ann. N. Y. Lyc. V, May, 1851, 112, pl. v, f. 2 (Texas).—SCLATER, Pr. Zoöl. Soc. 1856, 306.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 487, pl. lv. f. 2.—IB. Mex. Bound. II, Birds, 16, pl. xvii, f. 2. _Zonotrichia plebeja_, LICHT. BON. Comptes Rend. 43, 1856, 413. [Line drawing: _Embernagra rufivirgata_, Lawr. 29229 ♀] SP. CHAR. Above uniform olivaceous-green. A stripe on each side of the head, and one behind the eye, dull brownish-rufous, an ashy superciliary stripe whiter anteriorly. Under parts brownish-white, tinged with yellowish posteriorly, and with olivaceous on the sides; white in the middle of the belly. Edge of wing, under coverts, and axillaries bright yellow. Young with the head-stripes obsolete. Length, 5.50; wing, 2.60; tail, 2.70. HAB. Valley of the Rio Grande, and probably of Gila, southward; Mazatlan, Mexico. Oaxaca, April (SCL. 1859, 380); Cordova; Vera Cruz, temperate and hot regions, breeding (SUM. M. B. S. I, 551); Yucatan (LAWR. IX, 201).