PASSERES — FRINGILLID JE — FRINGILLA. 1 49 



GENUS FRINGILLA. Linnaeus. 



Bill short, stout, conical, narrower than the head. Mandibles of equal width. Nostrils basal, 

 rounded, concealed by the feathers. Tongue compressed above, channelled lengthwise, 

 horny. Claws various. 



THE FOX-COLORED SPARROW. 



Fringilla iliaca. 



PLATE LXX1II. FIG. 166 (Male). 

 (STATE COLLECTION.) 



Fringilla iliaca. Mekrem, Icones Avium, pi. 10. 



F. rufa, subsequently ferruginea. Wilson, Am. Orn. Vol. 3, p. 53, pi. 22, fig. 4. 

 F. (Fringilla) iliaca. Bonaparte, Ann. Lye. N. Y. Vol.2, p. 112. 

 Ferruginous Finch. Nuttall, Man. Orn. Vol. 1, p. 514. Audubon, folio, pi. 108. 



F. (Zonolrichia) id. Rich. & Swainson, F. B. A. Vol. 2, p. 25? (figure of ihe head). Kirtland, ZooI. Ohio, 

 p. 1C1. Peabody, Birds of Mass. p. 32S. Audubon, Birds of Am. Vol. 3, p. 130, pi. 186. 

 Fox-colored Finch. Gikaud, Birds of Long Island, p. 119. 



Characteristics. Above varied with reddish brown and ash ; beneath whitish, with large 

 reddish brown blotches. Wings and tail bright reddish ; the latter 

 emarginate. One of the largest of the genus. Length, 7\ inches. 



Description. Third primary longest. Hind claws slightly curved, 0' 4 long. Tail slightly 

 emarginate, 1 "4 longer than the tips of the closed wings. 



Color. Above the eyes, and on the sides of the neck, slate. First primary edged with 

 white on the outer vane ; the other with rufous : the two white bars on the wings often 

 obsolete. Tail-coverts bright rufous. Beneath, the chin soiled white. Throat, breast and 

 flanks spotted with arrow-heads and oblong dashes of rufous : lower mandible dusky. The 

 female scarcely differs from the male, except that the crown has more slate, and the white 

 wing-bands are absent. 



Length, 6'5-7-5. Alar extent, 9'5-10-5. 



This large northern Finch, which breeds in the countries north of the United States, appears 

 in this State in October and November on its way south, and returns on its northern passage 

 in the earliest part of spring. Those in the State Collection were obtained in the neighborhood 

 of New- York, on the 12th of October; but in the northern district, they appear earlier, and 

 I suspect will be found to breed even there. They feed on seeds and insects. It builds its 

 nest in the grass, and its eggs are dull greenish, sprinkled with small irregular blotches of 

 brown. They descend as low as 30° south, and have been seen as high north as the 6Sth 

 parallel. They are abundant about the Columbia river. 



This species has been placed by some recent ornithologists in a separate genus Passarella. 



