420 FRINGILLIDA. 
records it from this locality ®, and Mr. White procured it from the vicinity of the city 
of Mexico’. 
Dr. Coues gives an excellent account of C. ornatus in his ‘ Birds of the North West’®, 
from which it would appear that it is an abundant and characteristic species of the 
Missouri region of the United States, and that it is found far north in the interior of 
the British possessions. It breeds on the ground, making a slight nest composed of 
dry grass and stems of small plants. The eggs are white, blotched and streaked with 
rusty colour. 
Rhynchophanes maccowni is casually mentioned in the recently published ‘ Check- 
List of North-American Birds’ as occurring in Mexico, but we lack authority for the 
statement. Dr. Coues, writing in 1874 (B. N. W. p. 125), says he had no account of 
its occurrence in Mexico, nor have we at the present time. As this bird is found in 
Texas its occasional presence in Mexico is very probable. 
CARPODACUS. 
Carpodacus, Kaup, Ent. eur. Thierw. p. 161 (1829); Baird, Brew., & Ridgw. N. Am. B. 1. p. 459; 
Coues, Key N. Am. B. ed. 2, p. 346. 
Carpodacus, including the subgenera Propasser and Pyrrhoplectes, contains about 
fifteen species. These are spread over the whole of the Palearctic and Nearctic Regions, 
being well represented in Central Asia and the slopes of the Himalayas. Five species 
are found in the Nearctic Region, of which three occur within the limits of Mexico, 
where they are restricted to the higher plains of the interior or the extreme northern 
frontier. 
Carpodacus cassini, which belongs to the same section of the genus as the better- 
known C. purpureus, has the culmen of the bill nearly straight, the tomia is nearly 
straight, the bill being somewhat turgid below the nostrils; these are round with a 
membrane along the upper edge, a tuft of short decurved bristly feathers covers the 
nasal fossa. ‘The feet are weak, the tarsus being shorter than the middle toe and claw. 
The wings are long and pointed, the first, second, and third quills being subequal and 
forming the wing-point ; the longest secondaries are a little longer than the shortest 
primaries. The tail is much shorter than the wing and moderately forked. 
The bill of C. hemorrhous has the culmen much more curved, and there is a small 
dentate process at the angle of the tomia. The nostrils are rather more exposed, the 
short decurved feathers proceeding from the base of the forehead being shorter. The 
tail is more even and the feathers narrower. 
1. Carpodacus cassini. 
Carpodacus cassini, Baird, Pr. Ac. Phil. 1854, p.119'; Scl. & Salv. P. Z. S. 1869, p. 83627; Baird, 
Brew., and Ridgw. N. Am. B. i. p. 460°; Coues, B. N. W. p. 106‘; Key N. Am. B. ed. 2, 
p- 847°; Check-List N. Am. B. p. 256° 
