streaked with deep black. Foreneck and breast, black, mixed with grayish white; the line passing through the eye down the breast, yellowish white, becoming darker on the breast; lower surface from the breast, white, spotted on the flanks. Wings, deep blackish chestnut, crossed by two white lines; primaries on the inside at tip, margined with white. Tail, forked, brownish black, all the feathers margined with rusty, the two outer with a white cuneiform spot at tip. The dress of the female in autumn and winter is as follows: head, and neck above, shoulders, and back, grayish rusty, with blackish spots, the rusty predominating on the neck and rump; the superciliar line, whitish rusty, uniting with a white streak from the angle of the bill; throat, white each side, with a brownish line; upper part of the breast, grayish, spotted with black; inferior parts, white; the flanks with longitudinal blackish marks. The young of both sexes, during the first year, are of a yellowish brown above, tinged with grayish, streaked and spotted with blackish, the shafts of the feathers being of that colour; the cheeks and auriculars are brownish, the latter mixed with black; a small blackish spot, that spreads as the bird advances in age, is already visible near the opening of the ears; above the eye is a broad streak of pale brownish; the throat is yellowish white, slightly streaked with brown, and with a blackish line on each side coming from the corner of the lower mandible; the lower portion of the neck and breast is of a dingy, reddish white, more intense, and thickly spotted with blackish brown on the breast and flanks; the belly and vent are almost pure whitish. The wing-coverts and secondaries are blackish brown, margined with dark rusty, and tipped with white; the primaries are dusky brown, paler at the edge. The tail-feathers are dusky, and also margined with deep rusty; the outer bearing a reddish white conic spot, which is merely longitudinal, and narrow on the next. The bill is entirely of a dirty yellowish brown; the feet are dusky brown; the hind nail, though still longer than its toe, is much shorter, and not quite so straight. GENUS XIV. FRINGILLA. 28. FRINGILLA GRAMMACA.LARK FINCH. BONAPARTE, PLATE V. FIG. III. For this very interesting new species, Ornithology is again indebted to Long's expedition, and particularly to Say, who gave it the name we have adopted, and informs us, in his notes, that many of these birds were shot in the month of June, at Bellefontaine, on the Missouri; and others were observed, the following spring, at Engineer Cantonment, near Council Bluffs. It seems probable that the range of this bird is limited, in a great measure, by the Mississippi on the east. Like the larks, they frequent the prairies, and very seldom, if ever, alight on trees. They sing sweetly, and often continue their notes while on the wing. The lark finch is six inches and a half long; its bill, a little notched at tip, is of a pale horn colour, with a slight elevation on the roof of the upper mandible. The feet are pale flax colour, tinged with orange; the irides are dark brown. On the top of the head are two dilated lines, blackish on the front, and passing into ferruginous on the crown and hind head, separated from each other by a whitish cinereous line; from the eye to the superior mandible is a black line, which, as well as the eye, is enclosed by a dilated white line, contracted behind the eye; from the angle of the mouth proceeds a black line, which is much dilated into a ferruginous spot on the auricles; below this is a broad white line, margined beneath by a narrow black one, originating at the inferior base of the lower mandible; the chin and throat are pure white. The neck above, the back, and rump, are dull cinereous brown, each feather of the interscapular region having a blackish brown disk; the neck beneath and breast, are dull whitish cinereous; a small blackish brown spot is on the middle of the breast; the belly and vent are white. The wings are dusky brown; the lesser wing-coverts are margined with dull cinereous; the exterior primary is equal to the third; both are very little shorter than the second, which is longest; the outer webs of the second, third, and fourth primaries, being whitish near their bases, form a distinct spot on the wing. The tail is rounded, the feathers being blackish brown; the two intermediate ones are immaculate, somewhat paler than the others. The adjoining ones have a small white spot at tip, which, on the lateral feathers, increases in size, until, on the exterior one, it occupies half the total length of the feather; whilst its exterior web is white to the base. The female is very similar to the male, but the colours are duller, and the stripes on the head are not so decided; the auriculars, moreover, are yellowishbrown. This species has the bill and feet precisely similar to those of Wilson's black-throated bunting, and those other Fringilla, and supposed Emberiza, of which I have constituted the sub-genus Spiza, in my Observations on Wilson's Ornithology. It cannot be mistaken for any other species, being very peculiar in its markings and manners. 29. FRINGILLA PSALTRIA, SAY. —ARKANSAW SISKIN. BONAPARTE, PLATE VI. FIG. III. "A VERY pretty little bird," writes Say, in his precious zoological notes to the journal of Long's expedition, "was frequently seen hopping about in the low trees or bushes, singing sweetly, somewhat in the manner of the American goldfinch, or hempbird, Fringilla tristis. The tints, and the distribution of the colours of its plumage, resemble, in a considerable degree, those of the autumnal and less brilliant vesture of that well known species. It may, however, be distinguished, in addition to other differences, by the black tip of its tail feathers, and the white wing spot." The Arkansaw siskin inhabits the country near the base of the Rocky Mountains, south of the river Platte, 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 American 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 VOL. IV. I |