366 



SYSTEM A TIC SYNOPSIS. — PA SSEBES — OSCINES. 





Fig. 222. — Mexican 

 (After Audubon.) 



Goldfinch, reduced. 



tinuously-black, and the black of the crown extending below the eyes, enclosing the olive 

 under eyelid. Mexican bordfer and southward. This bird looks quite unlike typical psaltria, 

 but the gradation through var. arizonae is perfect ; and mexicana, moreover, leads directly into 

 var. Columbiana, a Central American form in which 

 the tail-spots are very small or wanting. The 

 females of these several varieties cannot be distin- 

 guished with certainty. 

 218. A. nota'tus. (Lat. notatus, noted in any way.) 

 Black-headed Goldfinch. ^, adult: Bright 

 yellow, obscured on the back, head all around glossy 

 black, extending on fore-breast ; wings black, with 

 large basal area on all the quills yellow, forming a 

 conspicuous patch ; tail black, basal half or more of 

 all the feathers but the middle pair yellow. Wing 

 2.70 ; tail 1.80 ; bill extremely acute, much as in 

 Ca/rduelis or Chrysomitris proper. South and Cen- 

 tral Am. and Mexico, a straggler in U. S. (? "Kentucky," Auduhon.) 

 72. PLECTRO'PHANES. (Gr. irXrjKTpov, plectron, a certain instrument; (ftaiva, I appear; 

 alluding to the hind claw.) Bill very small and truly conic, weU exhibiting " emberizine" or 

 "bunting" characters; i. e., strong angulation of commissure ; inflected cutting edges; a 

 palatal knob. Culmen slightly curved ; gonys perfectly straight, and very short, less in length 

 than width of bill ; lower mandible heavier than upper. A dense nasal ruff. Wings very long 

 and pointed; 1st or 1st and 2d quills longest, rest rapidly graduated. Tail i shorter than 

 wings, nearly square. Tarsus longer than middle toe without claw ; lateral toes of subequal 

 lengths, and much shorter than the middle one. Claws slender and compressed, with deep 

 lateral grooves at base ; hind claw lengthened and less curved than the rest, but not straight. 

 Gullet very distensible. Sexes alike. Colors very different with season ; in summer ^ 

 entu'ely black and white. One species, circumpolar. Terrestrial, gregarious. 

 210. P. nivalis. (Lat. nivalis, snowy ; nix, nivis, snow. Fig. 223.) Snov^^ Bunting. Snow- 

 flake. (J, in full dress: Pure white; the bill, feet, middle of back, scapulars, primaries 

 except at base, most inner secondaries, bastard quills, and several tail-feathers, black. Length 

 about 7.00 ; extent 12.50-13.00 ; wing 4.00-4.25 ; tail 2.50-2.75. In less perfect summer dress, 



black of the back, inner secondaries and tail- 

 feathers varied with white. 9 , in breeding 

 plumage: The black impure or brownish, and 

 most or all of the upper parts brownish-black, 

 varied with white. Rather smaller. Dimen- 

 sions of many specimens of both sexes : length 

 6.50-7.00; extent 12.00-13.00; wing 4.00- 

 4.25; tail 2.50-2-75; bill 0.40; tarsus 0.80; 

 middle toe and claw 0.90; hind toe and claw 

 0.67-0.75; claw alone 0.33-0.44. Adults, in 

 winter, as generally seen in the U. S. (where 

 black-and-white birds are rarely if ever 

 found) : Upper parts overcast with rich warm 

 chestnut-brown and grayish -brown, mixed 

 with the black of the back, and clouding the other upper parts which are wliite in summer, 

 becoming dusky or even blackish on the head ; this brown also usually forming a patch on the 

 ears, a collar on the breast, edging of the inner wing- and tail-feathers, and a wash on the 

 flanks ; but specimens vary interminably ; other parts white or black as in summer ; bill 



Fig. 223. 

 (Sheppard del 



- Snow Bunting, in summer, reduced. 

 Nichols sc. ) 



