412 HISTORY OF THE 



mid lined with fine grasses, sometimes rootlets and hairs. Eggs 

 four to six, 1.20x.83; light greenish white, irregularly spotted 

 and marked with zigzag lines of rusty blackish brown, chiefly 

 about larger end. They vary greatly in depth of color, marking, 

 size and form. 



Family FRINGILLIDJE. Finches, Sparrows, etc. 



"Primaries nine. Bill very short, abruptly conical, and robust. Commis- 

 sure strongly angulated at base of bill. Tarsi scutellate anteriorly, but the sides 

 with two undivided plates meeting behind along the median line, as a sharp 

 posterior ridge. Eyes hazel or brown, except in Pipilo, where they are reddish 

 or yellowish. Nest and eggs very vai-iable as to character and situation." 



Genus COCCOTHRAUSTES Brisson. 



Width of bill at base decidedly less than its length, and basal outline of lower 

 mandible uuderneath simply concave. Depth of bill at base greater than length 

 of hiud toe with claw, and more than three-fourths as long as tarsus. {Bidgway.) 



Subgenus HESPERIPHONA Bonaparte. 



"Bill largest and stoutest of all the United States fringilline birds. Upper 

 mandible much vaulted; culmen nearly straight, but arched towai'd the tip; com- 

 missure concave. Lower jaw very large, but not broader than the upper, nor 

 extending back, as in Ouiraca; considerably lower than the upper jaw. Gonys 

 unusually long. Feet short; tarsus less than middle toe; lateral toes nearly 

 equal, and reaching to the base of the middle claw. Claws much curved, stout, 

 and compressed. Wings very long and pointed, reaching beyond the midtlle of 

 the tail. Primaries much longer than the nearly equal secondaries and tertials; 

 outer two quills longest; the others rapidly graduated. Tail slightly forked; 

 scarcely more than two-thirds the length of the wings, its coverts covering 

 nearly three-fourths of its extent." 



Coccothraustes vespertina (Coop.). 



EVENING GROSBEAK. 

 PLATE XXVL 



Winter visitant; rare. 



B. 303. R. 165. C. 189. G. 83, 201. U. 514. 



Habitat. Western North America; north to British Colum- 

 bia and the Saskatchewan; east to Manitoba, Michigan and Il- 

 linois; casually to Ontario, Ohio and Kentucky; south in Mexico 

 to the highlands of Yera Cruz. 



Sp. Char. "Anterior half of the body dusky yellowish olive, shading into 

 yellow to the rump above and the under tail coverts below. Outer scapulars, 

 a broad frontal baud continued on each side over the eye, axillaries and middle 



