and probably is also to be found in Mexico. The only specimen brought by the party was shot on the 16th of July, near Boiling Spring Creek.

The Arkansaw siskin is four inches and a quarter long; the bill is yellowish, tipped with blackish; the feet are flesh colour; the irides burnt umber. The top of the head is blue black; the cheeks are dusky olivaceous; the neck above, and half its side, the back, and rump, are olivaceous, more or less intermixed with dusky and yellowish, particularly on the rump; the superior tail-coverts are black, varied with olivaceous; all the under parts, from the very base of the bill to the under tail-coverts, inclusively, are of a pure bright yellow. The wings are brownish black, the smaller wing-coverts being very slightly tinged with blue, and edged with olivaceous; the greater wing-coverts are tipped with white, which forms a narrow band across the wing; the primaries, excepting the exterior one, are slightly edged with white; the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh, are white towards the base, so as to exhibit a white spot beyond the wing-coverts; the first four primaries are nearly equal in length, the fifth is a quarter of an inch shorter; the secondaries are broadly margined with white exteriorly, towards their tips. The tail is slightly emarginated, the feathers being blackish, slightly edged with dull whitish; the three exterior ones are widely pure white on the middle of their inner webs.

The specimen we have just described is a male, evidently in perfect plumage; the female, and state of imperfect plumage, are unknown; but, without risking any great deviation from the truth, we may state, from analogy, that the young resemble the female, which must be destitute of the black cap, and have the colours less vivid and less pure.

The Arkansaw siskin certainly resembles the Ame rican goldfinch in its winter dress; but a still more striking similarity exists in some other birds, such as the European siskin, (Fringilla spinus,) and the Olivarez, (Fringilla magellanica, Vieill.) of South America;

and it is so similar to the European, that it might, with a much greater degree of propriety, be considered as a variety, than those regarded as such by authors. They can, however, be easily distinguished by the following comparative characters: All the under parts of the Arkansaw siskin are bright yellow, whilst the corresponding parts of the European siskin are tinged with greenish, the throat being black, and the belly, vent, and flanks, whitish, spotted longitudinally with black; the margins and spots of the wing and tail-feathers are white in our bird, and yellow in the European siskin; the white spots on the tail of the Arkansaw siskin are confined to the three outer feathers, whilst, in the foreign bird, all the feathers, excepting the two middle ones, are marked with yellow; the bill of our species is also a little shorter, less compressed, and less acuminated; finally, we may notice another trifling difference, which consists in the proportional length of the primaries, the four first being nearly equal in the American bird, and the three first only in the European, the fourth being almost a quarter of an inch shorter. The other approximate species, Fringilla magellanica, Vieill. considered by Gmelin and Latham as a variety of the European siskin, is readily distinguishable by having the head entirely black.

Though the Mexican siskin (Fringilla mexicana, Gmel.) may prove to be the female of our bird, or the male in an imperfect state of plumage, (and, from the locality, we should possibly have referred it to that name, had the classification of it fallen to our lot,) yet, as nothing positive can be drawn from so unessential an indication as that of the Mexican siskin, we have no hesitation in following the same course with Say, who considers it as entirely new, and have retained his elegant name of Fringilla psaltria. It is very possible that not only the Fringilla mexicana, but also the Black Mexican siskin, (Fringilla catotol, Gmel.) may be the same bird as our Fringilla psaltria; but how can we determine, from the vague descriptions that have been given of those species? They are equally appli

cable to the American goldfinch in its dull state of plumage; and Wilson expresses a doubt whether or not the black Mexican siskin is the same as his new species, Fringilla pinus.

All these pretty little birds belong to the subgenus Carduelis, having a more slender, acute, and elongated bill, than other Fringilla.

30. FRINGILLA TRISTIS, LIN.-FEMALE AMERICAN GOLDFINCH.

BONAPARTE, PLATE VI. FIG. IV.

THE very great dissimilarity between the sexes in their spring dress, will justify the reappearance of a bird already given by Wilson, more especially as it has, in this state, been mistaken for a distinct species, and most unaccountably arranged in the systems as a variety of the European siskin.

The history of this bird, which so completely resembles the goldfinch of Europe in song and habits, being nearly completed by the golden pen of Wilson, we shall not attempt to add any observations of our own, but shall refer the reader to his volume (Vol. II. p. 262) for its biography. As we cannot but observe that his description is short and somewhat imperfect, probably owing to the opinion he at first entertained, but afterwards judiciously relinquished, that a minute description of common birds is superfluous, we shall proceed to describe the species in all its different states.

The male American goldfinch in summer dress, described by Wilson, is four and a half inches long, and eight in extent. The bill resembles that of the European goldfinch, and, as well as the feet, is of a reddish cinnamon colour; the irides are dark brown; the front and vertex are glossy black; the remaining part of the head, and all the body, rich lemon yellow; the superior and inferior tail-coverts are white, as well as the thighs; the wings and tail are black, the small coverts of the wings being yellow externally, and white on the inner side and at tip; the greater coverts are

tipped with white, an arrangement which exhibits two white bands across the wings; the first and third primaries are equal, hardly shorter than the second, which is the longest, the fourth being nearly as long as the third; the secondaries are margined with white. The tail is emarginated, the feathers being black, slightly edged with white, and having a large pure white spot on the inner web at tip.

The female, as is usual in this family of birds, is rather smaller than the male, and is widely different from that sex in the colours of its plumage. The bill and feet are brownish; the lower mandible is whitish at base; the head has no appearance of black, and, with the neck, the back, and rump, is brownish olive, the latter part being of a lighter shade than the preceding portions; the upper tail-coverts are greenish white; the frontlet, cheeks, sides of the neck, throat, and upper part of the breast, are pale greenish yellow; the lower portion of the breast, belly, vent, flanks, under wing and under tail-coverts, are whitish. The wings and tail, which always afford the most constant specific characters, are like those of the male, except that the black colour is less intense, and the white is less pure, being slightly tinged with rufous.

In this state of plumage, the bird closely resembles the Fringilla citrinella of the south of Europe, which, however, can always be distinguished from it by several characters, but more particularly by its greenish yellow rump, and by being destitute of the whitish spot at the tip of the inner web of the tail feathers. The young are so like the females as to be distinguished with difficulty; their colours, however, are still less lively; they assume the adult livery in the spring, but do not exhibit all the brilliancy of the perfect bird until the third moult.

The American goldfinch moults twice a-year, in the seasons of spring and autumn. At the spring moult the males obtain their vivid colouring, which is lost at the autumnal change, and replaced by a more humble dress, similar to that of the female, from which sex

they cannot then be readily distinguished. The black of the wings is, however, somewhat more intense; the white of the wings and of the tail is dull and dirty, and a yellowish tint prevails around the eyes, as well as on the neck.

As the season advances, the plumage of the adult male gradually changes, but not simultaneously in the different individuals, so that in the spring and autumn we rarely find two that are alike; some being more or less yellow, having a rudiment of black on the head, &c. according as the moulting process is more or less advanced.

A remarkable variety is exhibited in a changing male, which I shot near Philadelphia, in the month of April, and which is therefore considerably advanced towards perfect plumage. All the primaries are pure white on the outer web towards the base, thus constituting, in the most obvious manner, that white spot beyond the wing-coverts, assigned by Say as a good discriminating mark between this species and the ceding. The fact we have related diminishes the value of this character, which is nevertheless a very good one; but as many other distinctions are observable, we need not rely exclusively upon it. The deviation we have here mentioned is the more remarkable, as the greater number of species allied to this bird have that spot, either white or yellow.

pre

Since writing the above, I obtained, from one of the large flocks in which these birds congregate in the autumn, several specimens of both sexes, more or less distinguished by the marking above stated as peculiar to the variety.

31. FRINGILLA AMENA, BONAPARTE.

LAZULI FINCH.

BONAPARTE, PLATE VI. FIG. v.

THE genus Emberiza, though very natural, and distinguished by well marked characters, has, notwith