Amphispiza is a genus of birds in the bunting and American sparrow

Emberizidae

The Emberizidae are a large family of passerine birds. They are seed-eating birds with a distinctively shaped bill.In Europe, most species are called buntings. In North America, most of the species in this family are known as sparrows, but these birds are not closely related to the sparrows, the...

 family. It contains three species:

• Five-striped Sparrow
  Five-striped Sparrow
  The Five-striped Sparrow, Amphispiza quinquestriata, is a medium-sized sparrow.This passerine bird is primarily found along the eastern Sea of Cortez region and Pacific region of mainland western Mexico, with a breeding range that extends into the southern tip of the U.S...
  
   Amphispiza quinquestriata
• Black-throated Sparrow
  Black-throated Sparrow
  The Black-throated Sparrow is a small sparrow primarily found in the southwestern United States and Mexico. It is sometimes referred to as the Desert Sparrow, due to its preferred habitat of arid desert hillsides and scrub...
  
  , Amphispiza bilineata
• Sage Sparrow
  Sage Sparrow
  The Sage Sparrow is a medium-sized sparrow of the western United States and northwestern Mexico.Sage Sparrows are indeed often tied to sagebrush habitats, although they can also be found in brushy stands of saltbush, chamise, and other low shrubs of the arid Interior West.The most widespread...
  
  , Amphispiza belli

The genus may be paraphyletic, so the genus name Artemisiospiza has been proposed for A. belli and A. bilineata.

Both inhabit dry areas of the western United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and northern Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

, but in different habitats. They frequently run on the ground with their tails cocked and sing from low bushes. Adults are whitish on the belly and gray above and on the head, with black and white head markings. Juveniles are rather similar to each other, grayish brown above and whitish below, with short streaks on the breast.

Amphispiza is from Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...

 amphi- (αμφι-), "on both sides" or "around", and spiza (σπιζα), "finch

Finch

The true finches are passerine birds in the family Fringillidae. They are predominantly seed-eating songbirds. Most are native to the Northern Hemisphere, but one subfamily is endemic to the Neotropics, one to the Hawaiian Islands, and one subfamily – monotypic at genus level – is found...

", originally applied to the Sage Sparrow; it was then considered a finch and resembles some other finch-like birds "around" it, that is, in its range.