THE FINCHES. 291 



a. Size large (wing more than 3.50 inches} 



Habia. Upper mandible much swollen laterally. Colors: no blue; upper parts 

 conspicuously different from the lower. Wings and tail with white patches; axil- 

 lars and lining of wing yellow or red. Female streaked. Nest in a tree or bush; 

 eggs greenish, thickly spotted. 



Gniraca. Upper mandible Hat laterally. Colors: Mate deep blue, with two rufous 

 bands on wings; no white patches on wings or tail; axillars and lining of wing 

 blue*; female olive-brown without streaks. Nest in a bush; eggs plain bluish 

 white. 



&. Size very small (wing less than 3.00 inches'). 



Passerina. Similar in form to (luiraca., but culmen more curved, mandible more 

 shallow, the angle and sinuations of the commissure less conspicuous. Color: 

 Males more or less blue, without any bands on wing (except in C. amoena, in 

 which they are white) ; female olive-brownish. Nest in a bush ; eggs plain bluish 

 White (except in O. ciris, in which they have reddish spots). 



B. Wing and tail about equal. The smallest of American Conirostres. Nest in bushes. 

 Eggs white, spotted. 



Sporophila. Bill very short and broad, scarcely longer than high, not compressed ; 

 culmen greatly curved. Color chiefly black and white, or brown and gray. 

 Euetheia. Bill more triangular, decidedly longer than deep, much compressed; 

 culmen only slightly curved, or perfectly straight. Colors dull olive-green and 

 blackish, with or without yellow about the head. 



C. Wing much shorter than the tail. 



a. Head crested. Prevailing color red. Bill red, orange, yellow, or whitish. 



Pyrrhuloxia. Bill pyrrhuline, very short, and with the culmen greatly convex; 

 shorter than high. Hind claw less than its digit; not much larger than the mid- 

 dle anterior one. Tarsus equal to the middle toe. Nest in bush or low tree; eggs 

 white, spotted with lilac and olive. 



Cardinalis. Bill coccothraustine, very large ; culmen very slightly convex. Wing 

 more rounded. Feet as in the last, except that the tarsus is longer than the mid- 

 dle tos. Nest in bush or low tree; eggs white, spotted with lilac and olive. 



6. Hciid not crested. Colors black, brown, or olive, without red. Bill dusky, or 

 bluish. 



Pipilo. Bill moderate; culmen and commissure curved. Hind claw very large 

 and strong; longer than its digit. Tarsus less than the middle toe. Nest on 

 ground or in low bush; eggs white sprinkled with led, or pale blue with black 

 dots and lines around larger end. 



GENUS PIPILO VIEILLOT. 



Pipilo VIEILLOT, Analyse, 1816, 32. Type, Fringilla erythropthalma LINN. 



"GEN. CHAE. Bill rather stout; the culmen gently curved, the gonys nearly straight, 

 the commissure gently concave, with a decided notch near the end; the lower jaw not 

 so deep as the upper; not as wide as the gonys is long, but wider than the base of the 

 upper mandible. Feet large, the tarsus as long as or a little longer than the middle toe; 

 the outer lateral toe a little the longer, and reaching a little beyond the base of the middle 

 claw. The hind claw about equal to its toe; the two together about equal to the outer toe. 

 Claws all stout, compressed, and moderately curved; in some western specimens the 

 claws much larger. Wings reaching about to the end of the upper tail-coverts; short and 

 rounded, though the primaries are considerably longer than the nearly equal secondaries 

 and tertials; the outer four quills are graduated, the first considerably shorter than the 

 second, and about as long as the secondaries. Tail considerably longer than the wings, 

 moderately graduated externally; the feathers rather broad, most rounded off on the 

 inner webs at the end. The colors vary; the upper parts are generally uniform black or 

 brown, sometimes olive; the under white or brown; no central streaks on the feathers. 

 The hood sometimes differently colored." (Hist. N. Am. B.) 



