BREWSTER : BIRDS OF THE CAPE REGION, LOWER CALIFORNIA. 135 



Nearly half of mv adult females have the throat, and occasionally the 

 breast, also, strongly tinged with carmine or purplish. 



Young in juvenal plumage do not differ appreciably from those of frontalis. 



This is one of the most abundant birds of the Cape Region, throughout 

 which it is very generally distributed, save on the higher mountains, where it 

 was not seen by either Mr. Belding or Mr. Frazar. The latter found it build- 

 ing at Triunfo the last week in April. Young of the first brood were on 

 wing and their parents laying a second time by the last week in June. One 

 pair had taken possession of an old nest of the Arizona Hooded Oriole, which 

 was attached to the under side of a palm leaf. 



Mr. Bryant says that most of the nests of the St. Lucas House Finch which 

 he found at Comondu " were in palm trees and well nigh inaccessible; " but 

 one was on the " under side of a veranda awning of an adobe house " among 

 the branches of a vine. This nest was " adapted to the space wherein it was 

 built, and composed of such material as was nearest at hand," viz., " rootlets, 

 a bit of rag and considerable wild cotton," with " a few soft shreds from plant 

 stalks, a quantity of wild cotton, and lastly, some horsehairs " as lining. 



The only nest obtained by Mr. Frazar was taken on June 20 at Triunfo. It 

 was built under the thatch of a roof, resting on one of the cross-beams to which 

 the thatch was tied. It is composed almost wholly of coarse cotton string 

 internrixed with a few horsehairs and stems of weedy plants. The eggs, three 

 in number, are not distinguishable from those of C. vi. frontalis. They measure 

 respectively: .69 X .52, .71 X .55, and .73 X .55. 



According to Mr. Bryant and Mr. Anthony, C. m. ruberrimus is replaced in 

 the northern portion of Lower California by C. m. frontalis, the latter extending 

 at least as far southward as latitude 28° N. The limit of northward extension 

 of ruberrimus does not seem to have been accurattdy determined. 



Astragalinus psaltria (Say). 

 Arkans.\s Goldfinch. 



Astragalinus psaltria Belding, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., V. 1883, 537 (Cape E^gion) ; 



VL 1883, 347 (Victoria Mts.). 

 Spinus psaltria Bryant, Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., 2d ser., II. 1889, 298 (Cape 



Region). 



The Arkansas Goldfinch is very common in winter in the Cape Region, 

 particularly in the low country near the coast. Mr. Frazar did not see it later 

 than April 23, except on the Sierra de la Laguna, where it was common the 

 last week in April and rare in May. A few pairs may breed on this mountain, 

 for in April, 1889, Mr. Bryant found nests at Comondu. Mr. Anthony states 

 that it is " a common resident about the northern part of the peninsula reach- 

 ing the lower slope of the mountain " at San Pedro Martir.^ 



1 Zoe, IV. 1893, 240. 



