452 5 YSTEMA TIC S YNOPSIS. — PA SSERES — OSCINES. 



tory, and Texas ; S. iu winter to Central America ; breeds throughout its N. Am. range. 

 Abundant in fields and open woodland, in summer ; a well meaning but rather weak vocalist, 

 whose low rambling strain is delivered as if the little performer were tired or indifferent. Nest 

 in crotch of a bush, large for size of the bird, and not at all artistic; eggs usually 4, rarely 5 

 averaging 0.72 X 0.52, white, usually with a faint bluish tint, and normally plain, though not 

 seldom a little speckled. 



Obs. It is probable that yet another species of this beautiful genus is to be added to our 

 Fauna, as follows: C parelli'na. (Lat. uncertain, perhaps h-om paralius, from Gr. TrapoKios, 

 paralios, beside the sea, maritime, with reference to the " ultra marine" blue of the J ; com- 

 pare Paralus, name of a man beautifully painted by Protogenes ; the expression Paralum pic- 

 *M??i occurs in Cicero.) Paraline Painted Finch. Mexican Blue Bunting. Adult (J: 

 Eich dark blue, brightening on the front and sides of the head, the rump, and lesser wing- 

 coverts, into azure blue ; lores, chin, tail, and bill black ; eyes brown ; feet dark. 9 '■ Brown, 

 paler below, whitening on throat and belly. Young ^ : Like 9 ! l>ut iu any plumage this 

 species may be recognized by the large turgid bill and much rounded wings with 3d-5th quills 

 longest, 2d about equal to 6th, 1st shortest of all. The species represents a connecting link 

 between Cyanospiza and Guiraca, and is type of the subgenus Cyanocompsa Cab. J. f. 0. 1861, 

 p. 4. Very small; length 5.00 or little more ; wing 2.70; tail 2.30; culmen 0.40-0.45; gonys 

 up to 0.30. Eastern Mexico, said to extend into Texas in the valley of the Lower Rio Grande. 

 Not noted in previous eds. of the Key. Cyanoloxia parellina Bp. Consp. Av. 1, Aug. 1850, 

 p. 502; Cyanospiza parellina Baird, B. N. A. 1858, p. 502, Tamaulipas and New Leon; 

 Passerina parellina Ridgw. Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. iii, 1880, p. 182; P. (Cyanocompsa) parel- 

 lina RiDGw. Man. 1887, p. 446. 



SPORO'PHILA. (Gr. a-nopos, sporos, seed; cf)i\os, philos, loving.) Pygmy Finches. 

 FiNCHLETS. Bill like that of a Bullfinch in miniature, short and extremely turgid; swollen 

 in all directions, culmen convex nearly in the sextant of a circle ; cutting edge of upper man- 

 dible very concave ; gonys short, about straight in outline. Wings short and greatly rounded ; 

 2d-4th quills longest, 1st, 5th, and even 6th, little shorter, and secondaries nearly ct)vering pri- 

 maries iu the closed wing. Tail rather shorter than wings, slightly rounded, with abruptly 

 pointed tips of the feathers. Tarsus equal to middle toe and claw, and lateral toes to each 

 other, their claws about reaching base of middle claw. A large Central and South American 

 genus of Pygmy Finches, one of which reaches our border. (Name changed from Spermophila 

 of former eds. of the Key because this is preoccupied for the mammalian genus Spermophilus 

 of F. CuviER, 1822, or Spermophila Richardson, 1825.) 



S. morelet'i sharpe'i. (To Arthur Morelet, a French traveller, shell-collector, and author, 

 and to Dr. R. Bowdler Sharpe, the famous English ornithologist.) Sharpe's Pygmy Finch. 

 Sharpe's Finchlet. Little Seed-eater. ^: Top and sides of head, back of neck, 

 broad band across upper part of breast, middle of back, wings, and tail, black; chin, upper 

 throat, neck nearly all around, rump, and remaining under parts, white, the latter often tinged 

 with pale buff; two wing-bands, and bases of all the quills, also white, that on secondaries 

 hidden by coverts, that on primaries forming an exposed spot ; inner secondaries usually edged 

 with white ; tail-feathers sometimes with obscurely whitish tip. Bill blue-black ; feet dark. 

 9 olivaceous-brown above, brownish-yellow or dull buff below; wings with whitish bars, but 

 no white bases of quills; bill brown; feet dark. Length about 4.00; wing 2.00-2.10; tail 

 1.90; tarsus 0.60. Mexico to Texas, in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. Spermophila moreleti 

 of most American writers, and of lst-3d eds. of the Key, but subspecifically different from the 

 true S. morelleti Bp. of Guatemala; Sporophila morelleti sharpei Lawr. Auk, Jan. 1889, p. 53; 

 CouES, Key. 4th ed. 1890, p. 900; A. O. U. List, 2d ed. 1895, No. 602. (S. parva Sharpe. 

 Cat. Brit. Mus. Birds, xii, 1888, p. 124, includes this form, doubtless distinct from S. parva 

 Lawr. Ann. N. Y. Acad, ii, 1883, p. 382.) 



