344 



SYSTEM A TIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES— OSCINES. 



63. PYR'RHULA. (Lat. pi/rrkula, nhuW^nch.) Bi'LLFINCHES. Generic characters of PtmcoZa 

 as above given ; the kisser hook of the bill and difterent style of coloration being the principal 

 distinction. Colors in masses of black, white or c;ray, and red. 



19i. P. cas'sini. (To John Cassin. Fig. 208.) 

 Cassin's Bullfinch. Above, clear ashy- 

 gray; below, cinnamon-gray; rump and under 

 wing- and tail-coverts white ; wings and tail, 

 (Town, chin and face black ; outer tail-feathers 

 with a white patch, greater wing-coverts 

 tipped and primaries edged with whitish ; bill 

 black, feet dusky. Length 6.50; wing 3.50; 

 tail 3.25. Nulato, Alaska, only one specimen 

 known, marked ^, but having all the charac- 

 ters of a 9 ; nearest related to P. cocciiica of 

 Asia, and originally described as a variety of 

 that species. Fig. 208. — Cassin's Bullfinch, reduced. (From Baird.) 



64. PAS'SER. (Lat. passer, a sparrow: this very species.) Sparrows. Form stout and 

 stocky. Bill very stout, shaped somewhat as in Carpodacus, but without nasal ruff. Cul- 

 men curved ; commissure little angulated ; gonys convex, ascending ; lateral outlines of bill 

 bulging to near the end. Wing pointed ; 1st, 2d, and 3d primaries nearly equal and 

 longest ; 4th little shorter, rest graduated ; inner secondaries not elongate. Tail shorter than 

 wings, nearly even. Feet small ; tarsus about equal to middle toe and claw ; lateral toes of 

 equal lengths, their claws not reaching to base of middle claw. Sexes unlike. ^ with black 

 and chestnut on head. Middle of back only streaked. Old World : two species naturalized in 

 North America. 



192. P. domes'ticus. (Lat. domesticus, domestic. Fig. 209.) The Sparrow^. Philip Spar- 

 row. House Sparrow. Parasite. Tramp. Hoodlum. Gamin. ^, adult: Upper 

 parts ashy-gray ; middle of back and scapulars boldly streaked with black and bay. A dark 

 chestnut or mahogany space behind eye, spreading on side of neck. Lesser wing-coverts deep 

 chestnut ; median tipped with white, forming a conspicuous wing-bar, bordering which is a 

 black line. Greater coverts and inner quills with central black field bordered with bay. Tail 

 dusky-gray, unmarked. Lower parts ashy, gray or whitish ; chin and throat jet black, 

 spreading on the breast and lores, bordered on side of neck with white. Bill blue-black ; feet 

 brown. Wing about 3.00 ; tail 2.25. 9 > adult : Above, brownish-gray ; streaking of back 

 light ochrey-brown and black; wing-edgings light ochrey-brown, the white bar impure. 

 ' No black, mahogany, or white on head; a pale brown. postocular stripe; bill blackish- 

 brown, yellovAnsh at base below. Varies endlessly in the purity or dinginess of coloration. 

 Young ^ at first like 9 • Europe, etc. Imported about fifteen years ago, during a craze 

 which even affected some ornithologists, making people fancy that a grarivorous conirostral 

 bird would rid us of insect-pests, this sturdy and invincible little bird lias overrun the whole 

 country, and proved a nuisance without a redeeming quality. Well-informed persons 

 denounced the bird without avail during the years when it might have been abated, but 

 further protest is futile, for the sparrows have it all their own way, and can afford to laugh at 

 legislatures, like rats, mice, cockroaches and other parasites of the human race which we have 

 imported. This species, of all birds, naturally attaches itself most closely to man, and easily 

 modifies its habits to suit such artificial surroundings ; this ready yielding to conditions of 

 environment, and profiting by them, makes it one of the creatures best fitted to survive in the 

 struggle for existence under whatever conditions man may afford or enforce ; hence it wins in 

 every competition with native birds, and in this country has as yet developed no counteractive 

 influences to restore a disturbed balance of forces, nor any check whatever upon its limitless 



