876 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —PASSERES—OSCINES. 



Pipilo, and Cardinalis. Winter visitors, in flocks, are Loria, Pinicola, Pnsserina, Calcarius, Acanthis, Spinus, and 

 Junco. Genera confined to the West or Southwest are He.sperip/iona, Pijrrfiiila, Pyrrhuloxia, Leucosticte, Rhyncho- 

 phanes, Sporophila, Arremonops, Oreospiza, Calamospiza, Hcemophila, and Amphispiza. The genera Pijrrlnda, Sporo- 

 phila, and Euetheia are properly extralimital. Imported genera are Passer and Carduelis. 



HESPERIPHO'NA. (Gr. eanepis, hesperis, a peculiar feminine of eo-Trepios, hesperios, west- 

 ern, as uouu in the plural 'Ea-neplBes, Hesperides, the Daughters of Night, who dwelt on the 



western verge of the world; ea-nepos or ia-rrepios, hes- 

 peros or hesperios, as adjective, of time, at evening, 

 at sunset; of place, western, occidental, where the 

 sun goes down, in feminine form eairepa, liespera, 

 Lat. Vespera, used as noun, for eve, evening, and for 

 the west, Lat. occiclens; also 'Earrepia, Hesperia, the 

 west. The forms of the classic word are much con- 

 fused, and usable both as nouns and adjectives. The 

 second element of the genus name is Gr. cjicov^, 

 phone, voice, sound.) American Hawfinches. 

 Bill enormously large, vaulted, nearly as wide as 

 higli at base ; culmen nearly straight to the decurved 

 end ; commissure curved without obvious angula- 

 tion ; gonys very long, and mandibular rami short, 

 Fig. 23(;. — Evening Grosbeak, reduced. (Shep- not reaching back of base of upper mandible ; man- 

 pard del. Nichols so.) jjl^^^g ^^ ^q^^j thickness, lower not so deep as upper ; 



lateral outlines of bill converging straight to tip. Nasal fossfe extremely short and broad ; 

 nostrils slightly overhung by antrorse plumulae. Wings long, pointed, folding beyond middle 

 of tail, pointed by first two primaries, the rest rapidly graduated ; no peculiar shape of inner 

 primaries or outer secondaries. Tail rather short, emarginate, with long coverts, the under 

 reaching nearly to the forking. Feet small and weak ; tarsus shorter than middle toe without 

 claw: lateral toes of about equal lengths, their claws reaching hardly base of middle claw. 

 Coloration black, white, and yellow. Sexes dissimilar. Little diSierent from Old World Cocco- 

 thraustes, excepting in coloration and the simplicity of wing-quills ; yet I hardly think it ad- 

 visable to follow the A. 0. U. in reducing this well-marked American group to a subgenus 

 of Coccothraustes. We have one strongly marked species, with one subspecies ; another good 

 species, H. aheillcei, occurs in Mexico and Central America. 



H. vesperti'na. (Lat. vespertina, of Hespa-us. Fig. 23(1) Evening Grosbeak. Adult 

 $ : General color sordid yellow, overlaid with a sooty-olive shade, deepest on fore parts, quite 

 black on crown, clearest below behind. Forehead and line over eye, scapulars, and rump, yel- 

 low. Wings and tail black ; several inner secondaries and inner half of greater coverts white ; 

 lining of wings black and yellow. A narrow black line around base of upper mandible ; tibiae 

 black. Bill greenish-yellow ; iris brown; feet light brown ; claws dark brown. Length 7.50- 

 8.50; wing 4.00-4.50; tail 2.50-3.00; bill 0.75"long, 0.67 deep, 0.60 broad. ?: Brownish- 

 ash, paler below, whitening on belly ; mixed with little, if any, yellowish ; white of wings 

 imperfect, or tinged with yellow; primaries, which are quite black in ^, with large white 

 spaces on inner webs, and sometimes tipped with wliite ; the distinctive head markings of the 

 $ wanting. Adults of both sexes differ much in the shade of the yellow and degree of obscu- 

 ration of the white on the wings ; there is also much difference in the extent of yellow and 

 black on the head. Young of both sexes resemble the adult 9 ; ^"t the general coloration is 

 duller and more brownish, the under parts are paler and more buffy, and all the special mark- 

 ings less sharply defined; bill plain brownish, or horn-color. In full plumage this is a bird of 

 distinguished appearance, whose very name suggests the far-away land of the dipping sun, and 

 the tuneful romance which the wild bird throws around the fading light of day ; clothed in 



