PASSERES FRINGILLIDAE P. FUSCUS VAR. MESOLEUCUS. 305 



I was confident I had never before heard, and a short search soon revealed 

 the author to be this finch. The notes are much deeper and harsher than 

 those of Abert's Finch. 



The habits of this species are in general much like those of the other 

 members of the family. Like them, it is eminently terrestrial, spending 

 nearly or quite all its time upon the ground, finding there an abundance of 

 food, in the search for which it finds constant and busy employment. In 

 the localities it selects for its abode, its taste differs much from that of the 

 following species, and it was found by us in situations more congenial to 

 the nature of the previous bird than to Abert's Finch, with which, indeed, I 

 believe it never associates. In the vicinity of Santa F6*, N. Mex., where it was 

 tolerably numerous in June, it was found on the barren hills covered with a 

 growth of cedars, among which it was ready to conceal itself on the slightest 

 appearance of danger ; its distrust of man at this season being a marked 

 feature in its character. Toward the southern part of Arizona, its appear- 

 ance became more frequent, and it was especially numerous about Camp 

 Bowie ; here, as elsewhere throughout this region, inhabiting the canons and 

 rockiest localities, where it skulked among the straggling thickets. By the 

 capture of a pair of these birds by Mr. Aiken, in El Paso County, Colorado, 

 in winter, its distribution has been extended much farther north than was 

 anticipated. The young in first plumage is ashy-brown above, the head 

 lacking entirely the chestnut; under parts except the belly, which is tinged 

 with rufous streaked with blackish markings. 



20 z 



