PYRRHULOXIA.—GUIRACA. 343 
1. Pyrrhuloxia sinuata. 
Cardinalis sinuatus, Bp. P. Z. 8. 1837, p. 1117; Consp. Av. i. p. 500°. 
Pyrrhuloxia sinuata, Baird, Mex. Bound. Surv. ii., Birds, p. 17°; Dresser, Ibis, 1865, p. 491 ¢ ; 
Dugés, La Nat. i. p. 189°; Baird, Brew., & Ridgw. N. Am. B. ii. p. 95°; Lawr. Mem. 
Bost. Soc. N. H. i. p. 275"; Sennett, Bull. U.S. Geol. Surv. iv. p. 21°; v. p. 393°; Bel- 
ding, Pr. U.S. Nat. Mus. vi. p. 343°; Coues, Key N. Am. B. p. 393" 
Cinerea, subtus dilutior, alis et cauda fusco-nigris, illis extus coccineo marginatis, crista occipitali elongata fusca 
ad basin coccinea ; loris, gutture. abdomine medio et subalaribus rosaceo-coccineis, rostro pallide corneo, 
pedibus carneis. Long. tota 8°5, ale 3-8, caude 4:1, rostri a rictu 0-5, tarsi 1-0. (Descr. maris ex El 
Paso, Smiths. Inst. 6368. Mus. nostr.) 
Q mari similis, alis extus et subalaribus tantum coccineis. (Descr. femine ex Eagle Pass, Texas. Mus. 
nostr.) 
Hab. Norta America, valley of Rio Grande ?¢ 11, Texas489, Lower California ¢ 11,— 
Mexico, western parts ', Nuevo Leon (Couch *), Guaymas (Belding), Mazatlan 
(Grayson"), Zacatecas *, Guanajuato (Dugés®). | 
This curious bird was first described by Bonaparte from a specimen from Zacatecas 
in Mexico ; and though it is now known chiefly from the Rio Grande valley and across the 
continent to the Gulf of California, and also in Lower California, it has also been obtained 
at Mazatlan and elsewhere; so that its claims as a Mexican bird cannot be questioned. 
Mr. Dresser, who met with it during his travels in Texas, looked upon it as a straggler 
from Mexico, as he found it abundant at Eagle Pass on the frontier, but a few miles 
north it failed to appear. He speaks of it as a shy bird, and when followed it perches 
on the top of some high bush, erecting its long crest; at other times it would take to 
the thick underwood, where it was impossible to shoot it+. Mr. Sennett makes similar 
observations on its habits®. The last-named traveller discovered its nest and eggs at 
Lomita in Texas. This nest was placed about five feet from the ground, and was com- 
pactly built of dried inner bark, grasses, and pliant twigs, with a few rootlets for lining, 
The eggs somewhat resemble in shape those of Cardinalis virginianus, but are more 
round, and are irregularly covered with spots of various shades of brown and lavender, 
which are massed together at the larger end, sometimes forming a band, but more 
frequently covering the entire end®. The ground-colour is dull chalky white ¢. 
Grayson’s specimens were shot at Mazatlan in February and April, but he says the 
bird was not common’. 
GUIRACA. 
Guiraca, Swainson, Zool. Journ. iii. p. 350 (1827) ; Coues, Key N. Am. B. ed. 2, p. 390. 
Cyanocompsa, Cabanis, J. f. Orn. 1861, p. 4. . 
The type of this genus is the well-known Lozia cwrulea of Linneus, and with it have 
been associated several other species from Mexico, Central and South America, all 
closely related to one another, but somewhat aberrant from the type, and separated by 
