:

throat this colour spreads gradually, and the wings and tail, and soon after the head, blacken, of course presenting as they advance in age a great variety of combinations. For the description of the beautiful adult male, we shall refer to Wilson, whose description is good, but not having stated any particulars about the habits of the species, we shall subjoin the little that is known of them. Though long since recorded to be an inhabitant of Louisiana, whence it was first received in Europe, recent observations, and the opinion of Wilson, had rendered this doubtful, and it was believed to be altogether an arctic bird, averse to the warm climate of the Southern States, and hardly ever appearing even in the more temperate. Its recent discovery in Mexico is, therefore, a very interesting and no less remarkable fact, and we may safely conclude that this bird migrates extensively according to season, spending the summer in the north, or in the mountains, and breeding there, and in winter retiring southward, or descending into the plains; being, however, by no means numerous in any known district, or at any season, though perhaps more frequent on the borders of Lake Ontario. Its favourite abode is large forests, where it affects the densest and most gloomy retreats. The nest is placed among the thick foliage of trees, and is constructed of twigs outside, and lined with fine grasses within; the female lays four or five white eggs, spotted with brown. This may also be called an " evening grosbeak," for it also sings during the solemn stillness of night, uttering a clear, mellow, and harmonious note.

We have placed this species in our subgenus Coccothraustes. It is probably because he laboured under the mistake that all the grosbeaks removed from Loxia had been placed in Pyrrhula by Temminck, that Mr Sabine has made it a bullfinch; and in truth the bill very much resembles those of that genus, so that the species is intermediate between the two. Swainson places it, together with the blue grosbeak, Fringilla (Coccothraustes) cærulea, in a new genus which he calls Guiraca, but without as yet characterizing

Mr

it. These species have, it is true, a bill somewhat different from that of the typical Coccothraustes, being much less thick and turgid, and higher than broad; the upper mandible being larger than the lower, and covering its margins entirely, compressed on the sides, making the ridge very distinct, (not rounded above,) and curved from the base, but at tip especially: the margins of both are angular.

34. FRINGILLA CYANEA, BONAPARTE.

FEMALE INDIGO FINCH.

BONAPARTE, PLATE XV. FIG. IV.

THE remarkable disparity existing between the plumage of the different sexes of the common indigo bird renders it almost indispensably requisite that the female, unaccountably neglected by Wilson, as he generally granted this distinction in similar, and often in less important, cases, should be described in this work. Hardly any North American bird more absolutely stands in need of being thus illustrated than the beautiful finch which is now the subject of our consideration. It could scarcely be expected that the student should easily recognize the brilliant indigo bird of Wilson's second volume in the description which is now given of it. But, however simple in its appearance, the plumage of the female is far more interesting and important than that of the male, as it belongs equally to the young, and to the adult male after the autumnal moult, and previous to the change which ensues in the spring,-a large proportion of the life of the bird.

The importance of a knowledge of these changes will also be duly estimated on recurring to the copious synonymy, by which it will be seen that several nominal species have been made by naturalists who chanced to describe this bird during its transitions from one state to another. Errors of this kind too frequently disfigure the fair pages of zoology, owing to the ridiculous

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 preceding. 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.

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

standing these advantages, been often misunderstood; and authors, without consulting the boundaries assigned to it by themselves, have recorded a copious list of species, whilst in nature its limits are much restricted. We are not, therefore, surprised, that so acute a zoologist as Say should have arranged his bird in that genus, particularly as it is more closely allied to Emberiza than many of those, not only of Wilson, but even of Linné and Latham.

This bird, which we have no hesitation in pronouncing one of the most beautiful of its tribe, would be placed by Vieillot in his genus Passerina; but, according to my classification, it belongs to the genus Fringilla, and to that American sub-genus lately established in my "Observations on the Nomenclature of Wilson's Ornithology," under the name of Spiza. As a species, it is more intimately allied to Fringilla ciris and Fringilla cyanea,* which I stated in that paper to differ so much from their congeners, particularly in the greater curvature of the upper mandible, as to deserve, perhaps, a separation into a small sub-genus by themselves: this would unite Fringilla to Tanagra, as Spiza, on the other hand, shews its transition to Emberiza.

The lazuli finch is five inches and three quarters long; the bill is formed like that of the Indigo bird, (Fringilla cyanea, Wilson,) but is emarginated near the tip, being horn colour, as well as the feet; the irides are dark brown; the whole head and neck are brilliant verdigrise blue; the back is brownish black, intermixed with blue, and a little ferruginous brown; the rump is pure verdigrise blue; the superior portion of the breast is pale ferruginous; the lower part of the breast, the belly, and inferior tail-coverts, are white; the smaller wing-coverts are blue; the middling-coverts are blackish at base, and broadly tipped with white, forming a wide band across the wing; the greater wing-coverts are

Its relation to Fringilla cyanea, considered as an Emberiza, probably induced Say to place under that genus.

blackish, obscurely margined with blue, and slightly tipped with white on the exterior web, constituting a second band across the wings parallel to the first, but much narrower; the primaries and secondaries are blackish, obscurely margined with blue on the outer web; the under wing-coverts are whitish, a little intermixed with blue. The tail is slightly emarginated, the feathers being blackish, edged with blue on the outer web, and with white on the inner web at tip.

The above description of this handsome bird is taken from a male in summer plumage, the only specimen brought by Long's exploring party: hence we are unable to give any positive information relative to the female and young, though, from analogy, we must believe them in great part destitute of the blue colour, and otherwise less brilliantly adorned.

This species appears to be rather rare; it is found along the Arkansaw river, near the base of the Rocky Mountains, during the summer months; they frequent the bushy valleys, keeping much in the grass, and seldom alight on shrubs or trees. In this respect, also, they resemble the Indigo bird, and probably their habits are the same, although the note is entirely dissimilar.

32. FRINGILLA VESPERTINA, COOPER.

EVENING GROSBEAK.

BONAPARTE, PLATE XV. FIG. I.

Few birds could form a more interesting acquisition to the Fauna of any country than this really find grosbeak. Beautiful in plumage, peculiar in its habits, important to systematical writers, it combines advantages of every kind. It was named and first described by Mr Cooper, and little has since been discovered of its history to be added to the information he has collected and given us in the journal above quoted. The species appears to have an extensive range in the northern and north-western parts of this continent, being met with from the extremity of the Michigan