898 Dr. A, Hall' oh the Mammals and Birds 



feathers black, edged with white on the outer vanes ; the lateral 

 tail feathers on the whole of the outer vane, and distal half of the 

 inner vanes, with a tear shaped spot of blackish brown on the ex- 

 tremity of the shafts. 



Ventral aspect. Breast, throat, chin, and cheeks black ; a 

 white line from the nostrils proceeds along the eye, and soon 

 acquires a yellow tint, and gradually increasing in breadth de- 

 scends behind the auriculars, and separates the black cheeks from 

 the rufous sides of the neck ; belly, vent and tail coverts white ; 

 flanks streaked black. 



1st and 2nd primaries equal. Length 6j inches ; alar breadth 

 11 inches; hind claw with nail 11 lines long. 

 Genus Fringilla. 



Gen. char. Bill short, robust, conic, unnotched ; upper man- 

 dible wider than the lower, gibbous, with the apex slightly in- 

 clined ; nostrils basal, round, concealed by the feathers of the 

 forehead ; tarsus shorter than the middle toe ; all the toes free ; 

 hind nail longest and largest ; wings rounded ; 3rd and 4th pri- 

 maries longest ; tail square or subfurcate. 

 F. cyanea. Indigo Finch. 

 Cyanospiza cyanea. Linn.! Bairdl 



v.s.p. ETV. Lower mandible pale; upper one, legs and feet 

 black ; i rides black or very deep hazel ; eggs 5 greenish white 

 without spots. 



Dorsal aspect. Sky blue, deepening on the head and neck into 

 a fine ultramarine ; back and rump blue, with a verdigris green 

 reflection; greater and smaller coverts black broadly tipped with 

 blue ; quills of the wing and tail blackish brown, the former edged 

 with verdigris green, the latter with pale bluish white. 



Ventral aspect. Ultramarine on the throat and upper part of 

 the breast, changing to a verdigris green on the abdomen ; vent 

 pale brown ; tail coverts blue tipped with white. 



2nd primary longest. Length 5j inches ; alar breadth 8 inches. 

 The female is flaxen tinged with ferruginous ; cheeks and below 

 ferrugineous white ; lower mandible almost white. In the winter 

 plumage the dorsal aspect is brown ; the feathers internally re- 

 taining a bluish tinge. The sky blue is still retained on the 

 shoulders, the wing coverts, and margins of the quills of the wings 

 and tail ; chin white, with a fine blue streak from each angle of 

 the mouth, lost upon the breast, which is pale brown with indis- 

 tinct bluish spots ; belly and vent white. 



