514 



GRANIVOROUS BIRDS. 



A smaller variety of this bird sometimes is seen in whole compa- 

 nies. The usual length is about 5| inches. Upon the flanks and 

 inferior coverts of the tail are some longitudinal blackish spots. 

 Wings and tail black, the quills edged with greyish rufous ; the 

 former with two transverse bands. Bill yellow ; black at the point. 

 Feet brown. In the female only part of the crown is carmine. 



Subgenus. — Fuingilla. 

 Bill short and thick, somewhat narrower than the head, almost 

 perfectly conic. 



FERRUGINOUS FINCH. 



(Fringilla iliaca, Merrem. Lath» F. rufa, Wilson, iii. p. 53. pi. 



22. fig. 4. Phil. Museum, No. 6092.) 

 Sp. Charact. — Varied with reddish-brown and grey ; beneath white, 



largely spotted with bright bay and dusky; tail and coverts 



bright ferruginous. 



This large and handsome Sparrow, after passing the 

 summer and breeding-season in the northern regions of 

 the continent around Hudson's Bay, and farther north 

 and west perhaps to the shores of the Pacific, visits ns in 

 straggling parties or pairs from the middle of October ta 

 November. At this time it frequents low, sheltered 

 thickets in moist and watery situations, where they usu- 

 ally descend to the ground, and, like the next species, are 

 busily employed in scratching up the earth and rustling 

 among the fallen leaves in quest of seeds, worms, and 

 insects, but more particularly the last. They migrate 

 in a desultory manner, and sometimes arrive as far south 

 as Georgia, passing the winter in the Southern States, 

 and retiring early in the spring to their favorite boreal 

 retreats. They are silent, rather tame, and unsus- 

 picious ; when alarmed or separated, their call is simply 

 shep, shep ; yet, at times, in the spring, a little before 

 their departure, they whisper forth a few low and sweet 

 notes, indicative of the existence of vocal powers in the 

 pairing season. 



