The eggs of this species are of a uniform light blue color, similar in shade to the eggs of the common Bluebird, as also to those of the _Calamospiza bicolor_. They vary considerably in size, the smallest measuring .80 of an inch in length by .60 in breadth, while the larger and more common size is .90 by .70 of an inch. Euspiza townsendi, BONAP. TOWNSEND’S BUNTING. _Emberiza townsendi_, AUD. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 183; V, 90, pl. cccc.—IB. Syn. 1839.—IB. Birds Am. III, 1841, 62, pl. clvii.—NUTTALL, Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 528. _Euspiza townsendi_, BON. List, 1838.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 495. SP. CHAR. _Male._ Upper parts, head and neck all round, sides of body and forepart of breast, slate-blue; the back and upper surface of wings tinged with yellowish-brown; the interscapular region streaked with black. A superciliary and maxillary line, chin and throat, and central line of under parts from the breast to crissum, white; the edge of the wing, and a gloss on the breast and middle of belly, yellow. A black spotted line from the lower corner of the lower mandible down the side of the throat, connecting with a crescent of streaks in the upper edge of the slate portion of the breast. Length, 5.75; wing, 2.86; tail, 2.56. HAB. Chester County, Penn. But one specimen known (in the Mus. Smith.). It is still a question whether this is a distinct species, or only a variety of _E. americana_. There is, however, little ground for the last supposition, although its rarity is a mystery. The original type specimen of this species, collected by Dr. J. K. Townsend, still continues to be the only one known, and has been presented by its owner, Dr. E. Michener, to the Smithsonian Institution. HABITS. Only a single specimen of this apparently well-marked species has been observed, and nothing is known as to its history. The bird was shot by Mr. J. K. Townsend, in an old field grown up with cedar-bushes, near New Garden, Chester Co., Penn., May 11, 1833. GENUS HEDYMELES, CABANIS. _? Goniaphea_, BOWD. “Excurs. in Madeira, 1825,” Agassiz. (Type, _Loxia ludoviciana_, according to Gray.) _Habia_, REICHENB. Av. Syst. Nat. 1850, pl. xxviii. (Type, _L. ludoviciana_; not _Habia_ of LESSON, 1831). _Hedymeles_, CABANIS, Mus. Hein. 1851, 153. (Same type.) [Line drawing: _Hedymeles melanocephalus._ 1496 ♂] GEN. CHAR. Bill very large, much swollen; lower mandible scarcely deeper than the upper; feet almost coccothraustine, tarsi and toes very short, the claws strong and much curved, though blunt. First four primaries longest, and nearly equal, abruptly longer than the fifth. Tail broad, perfectly square. _Colors_: Black, white, and red, or black, cinnamon, yellow, and white, on the male; the females brownish, streaked, with the axillars and lining of the wing yellow.