FRINGILLID.E: FINCHES, BUNTINGS, SPARROWS. 391 



with season troin black to yellow. Fioiitlet black, overlaid with hoary. A recognizable 

 light superciliary stripe, reaching to the bill. Crimson cap over nearly all the crown. Upper 

 parts streaked with brownish-black and white, the latter edging and tipping the feathers; 

 tills white nearly pure, only slightly tlaxen on sides of head and neck. Wings and tail as in 

 other species. Rump and entire under parts from the sooty throat white, free from spots, 

 the rump and breast rosy. Feet large and stout ; tarsus rather longer than middle toe and 

 claw. Length 6.00; wing 3.30 ; tail 2.80; bill 0.34; tarsus 0.65; middle toe and claw 0.58. 

 Sexual and seasonal changes as before ; quite dark in midsummer. Greenland, Arctic America, 

 and X. Europe. This large hoary northern form is resident; never known to occur iu the 

 U.S.; and most of the continental Red-polls of even Arctic N. Am. behmg to the next 

 species. 



A. h. exilipes. (Lat. exilis, exiguous, small ; jjes, foot.) American Mealy Red-poll. 

 Bill small, short, stout at base, regularly conic, little compressed, all its outlines about straight ; 

 nasal plumules very heavy, sometimes reaching half-way to tip of bill. Frontlet dusky, but 

 the feathers tipped with hoary; an appreciable light superciliary line; h^res and throat-spot 

 dusky. General color of upper parts as in linaria, but the dusky streaks are smaller and less 

 distinct, especially on the anterior parts ; and the flaxen is very pale, nearly white, disappear- 

 ing entirely on lower back, leaving a space streaked only with dusky and white. Rump snowy- 

 white, rosy-tinted, immaculate. Wings and tail as in other species; under parts white, the 

 breast with a rosy tint, paler than in linaria of same age and season ; the sides streaked with 

 dusky, the markings sparser and less definite than in linaria ; crissum almost immaculate. 

 Feet very small and weak, the toes e'specially shorter. Length 5.50 ; extent 9.00 ; wing 3.00 ; 

 tail 2.50; tarsus 0.55 ; middle toe without claw 0.28 ; middle toe and claw shorter than tarsus ; 

 bill 0.32. Seasonal and sexual differences as before. This form inhabits X. Europe, X. Asia, 

 and the whole of boreal X. America, reaching the U. S. regularly along the northern tier of 

 States sometimes in flocks in company with A. linaria. 



A. brew'steri? (To Wm. Brewster of Cambridge.) Buewster's Linnet. With the 

 general appearance of an iunnature A. linaria, this bird will be recognized by absence of 

 crimson on crown, no black throat-spot, a sulphur-yellowish shade on lower back, and some- 

 what different proportions. Wing 3.00; tail 2.50 ; tarsus 0.50. Waltham, Mass., Xov. 1, 

 1870; one specimen known. ^Jgiothus flavirostris, var. breivsterii Ridgw. Am. Xat. vi, 

 July, 1872, p. 433; Hist. X. A. B. i, 1874, p. 501 ; Acanthis brewsterii Ridgw. Man. 1887, 

 ]). :ii»8; A. 0. U. Hypothetical List, 1895, p. 330, Xo. 17. See Brewster, Bulk Xutt. 

 Orn. Clul), vi, 1881, p. 225. Conjectured to be Acanthis linaria X Spinus pinus. 

 SPI'XUS. (Gr. anluoi, ftpinos ; Lat. sjnnus, a linnet, siskin, or some other related bird.) 

 Linnets. Siskins. Bill exceedingly acute ; its lateral outlines concave by compression of 

 sides toward end, culmen and gonys about straight, commissure angulated, cutting edges in- 

 flected, no ridges on either mandible. Xasal tufts concealing nostrils in their short fossae. 

 AVings long, exceeding the short, emarginate tail; point formed by 1-3 or 4 quills, 5 and rest 

 rapidly shorter. Tarsus about as long as middle toe with claw; lateral toes of equal lengths, 

 tlicir claws reaching base of middle claw; hind claw shorter than its digit. Everywhere 

 thickly streaked (jrinus) or black and yellow (notatns). Xo red. Sexes alike. Habit gre- 

 garious. Xe.st in trees. Eggs speckled. 



S. pi'nus. (Lat. pinits, a pine. Fig. 2.56.) Pine Linnet. Pine Finch. Pine Siskin. 

 American Siskin. Adult ^ 9 : Continuously streaked, above with dusky or dark olivaceous- 

 brown and flaxen or whitish, below with dusky and whitish, the whole body usually suffused 

 with yellowish, most evident on rumj). Wings dusky, the basal portion of all the quills and 

 tlu'ir inner webs for some distance suli)hury-yeUow, usually showing externally as a spot just 

 b(>yond the coverts, sometimes restricted and hidden. Outer webs of (juills also narrowly edged 

 with yellow, separated from the basal yellow patch by a blackish interval. Tail dusky, its basal 



