FRIXGILLID.E — THE FINCHES. 



129 



sinuated. The tail is more graduated ; the claws thicker and stronger. The 

 wings are short and much rounded; the first quill shorter than the seconda- 

 ries ; fifth and fourth longest. 



It may be easily distinguished from all the varieties of fuscus by the 

 blackish lores and chin, as well as by the absence of any colored gular area, 

 there being, instead, a pinkish rufous tinge prevalent over the wliole throat 

 and jugulum. Tliere are no dtisky spots across the throat as in yV.sc^.s. 



Habit.s. Dr. Cooper assigns the base of the Kocky Mountauis, in New 

 Mexico, and the valleys of the Gila and L'ulurailo liivers, as the liabitat of 

 this species. Dr. Cones sjjeaks of it as one of tlie most abxmdant and char- 

 acteristic birds of those two valleys, and adds that it i-anges northward to 

 within a lew miles of Fort Whipple, but is not found in the adjacent moun- 

 tains. It was common at Fort iloliave, and particularly so at Fort Yuma. 



Dr. Kennerly met with it at Camp Ko. 114, New Mexico, February 6, and 

 again at Bill Williams Fork, February 12. He states that while travelling 

 down the Big Sandy Creek and Bill Williams Fork, in the month of Feb- 

 ruaiy, he found them very abundant. They confined themselves to the 

 thick bushes near the water. Generally two or three were seen together. 

 Their motions were very rapid, and their note was a peculiar, loud, chattering 

 sound, sharp but not disagTeeable. After leaving the Great Colorado he did 

 not see it again. 



On the borders of the Gila, east of Fort Yuma, Dr. Heermann found this 

 bird in great aljundance. It kept in the close sheltered thickets, where, 

 secure from intrusion, it sought among the dead leaves for various seeds and 

 insects and their larvie, on which it feeds. In its habits it Aery much re- 

 sembles the Pipilo fuscus, or Canon Finch, diving into the bushes when 

 alarmed, and repeating, at intervals, a short chirp. After leaving the Gila 

 River he did not meet with any more, as he followed no longer the course 

 of any large stream, for the borders of %\hich these birds seem to have a 

 decided preference. 



Dr. Cooper regards tliis species as the almost exact counterpart of the 

 Pipilo fuscus. The only difference he noticed in habits was in the character 

 of its loud note of alarm, remarkably similar, however, to tliat of two very 

 distinct birds of the same valley, namely, Ccnturus uropygialis and Plmino- 

 •pepla nitens. Like the Canon Finch, tins species is said to live almost con- 

 stantly on the ground, but appears rather more gregarious, especially in 

 winter. 



About the first of April Dr. Cooper met with many of their nests. They 

 were generally built in thorny shrubs, and were composed of a flooring of 

 coarse twigs, or of green herbs, and strongly interwoven with strips of bark, 

 grass, and leaves. One bird had taken ad\-antage of the recent introduction 

 of horses into the valley to obtain a lining of horse-hair for its nest. The 

 eggs were in all cases only three, bluish-white, with brown spots and streaks 

 in a ring near the large end, quite variable in number, and measuring one 



VOL. II. 17 



