FRINGILLID^ — THE FINCHES. 479 



Habits. This species, now known to be so common throughout the greater 

 portion of Calitbruia, was first described by Mr. Cassiu in 1850. Dr. Heer- 

 maini afterwards i'ouutl them very abundant tln-ougliout the northern mining 

 regions of California, frequenting the liillsides covered with brush, the seeds 

 and buds of which tliey eat with great avidity. Later in the season he found 

 them at San Diego, in quest" of grass-seeds on the level plains. They were 

 in large flocks, and so closely packed that he shot thirteen at one discharge. 

 Their nests, he states, are built in the fork of a bush or stunted oak, and are 

 composed of fine grasses, lined with hair and feathers. They contain four or 

 five pure white eggs. 



Mr. Eidg^'ay only met with this Goldfinch near the foot of the western 

 slope of the Sierra Nevada. 



Dr. Cooper met with a few of this species at Fort Mohave, on the Colorado, 

 but found them more numerous near the coast as far north as San Francisco, 

 at least, and also in the more northern mining regions. He has seen them 

 about San Francisco in December, and has no doubt tliat they remain all the 

 winter throughout the lower countr}-. They seenx to avoid the mountainous 

 regions, and have not been met with in Oregon. 



Their habits and their song are, in general respects, similar to those of the 

 Goldfinch (C. tristis), but their voice is much weaker, and is higher in its 

 pitch. Tlieir nests, Dr. Cooper thinks, are placed, in preference, on the live- 

 oaks ; at least, he has never met with them in any other situation. They are 

 built very much in the style of those of the Goldfinch, but are nnich smaller, 

 the cavity measuring only an inch in depth and one and a half in breadth. 

 The eggs he describes as four or five in number, pure white, and measuring 

 .80 by .46 of an inch. He adds that they sometimes feed on the ground, on 

 grass-seeds, as well as on buds and seeds of various weeds and trees. They 

 were regarded by him as more of a .sylvan species than the Goldfinch, and 

 not so fond of willows and other trees growing along streams and in -w-et 

 places. In the Colorado. Valley they feed on the seeds of the artemisia. lie 

 did not notice any tliere after the middle of April. Eggs, in my own cabi- 

 net, from Iilonterey, identified by Dr. Canfield, are of a uniform greenish- 

 white, exactly similar to those of C. psaltria and tristis, and measure only 

 .58 by .45 of an inch, or less in length by .22 than as given by Dr. Cooper. 



Three nests of this species obtained at Monterey, Cal., by Dr. Canfield, all 

 exhibit more or less variations as to material and style of make. They are 

 all more or less felted, and beautifully wrought, fully equal in artistic skill to 

 the nests of the Goldfincli. They are about one and a half inches in height 

 and three in diameter, an<l the cavity is an inch iu depth and one and three 

 quarters in diameter. The walls of these nests are soft, warm, and thick, 

 composed of wool, both vegetable and animal, fine stems of grasses, down, 

 feathers, and other materials, all closely matted together, and lined with 

 the long hair of the larger animals. One of these nests is made up entirely 

 of the finer grasses, strongly matted together. 



