FEINGILLIDJE: FiyCHKS, BUNTINGS, SPARROWS, ETC. 391 



Analysis of Species. 



J" rich blue, intense red and golden-green; ? greenish and yellow. Southern ciris 292 



cf piirplish-blue, dusky and reddish. ? brown. Southwestern versicolor 293 



(f lazuli-blue and wnite, the breast brown ; $ brown and whitish. Western atnoena 2M 



cf indigo-blue; $ brown. Eastern cyanea 295 



P. ei'ris. (Gr. xe'ipis, keiris, name of a hird into which Scylla, daughter of Nisus, was trans- 

 formed.) Painted Finch. Painted Bunting. Nonpareil. Pope. (J , adult : Crown and 

 hind neck and sides of head and neck rich blue ; back and scapulars beautiful golden-green ; 

 eyelids, rump, and entire under parts intense vermilion-red ; wings dusky, glossed with green 

 and reddish ; tail dusky reddish. Bill dark horn-color; feet dark brown. Size of C. amoena; 

 wing 2.7n ; tail 2.25, a little emarginate. 9 : Above, plain yellowish-green, nearly uniform, this 

 color glossing the dusky wings and tail; below, yellowish; bill brownish, pale below; thus 

 quite different from the brown 9 9 of all the following species. Young ^ at first like 9 ? 

 acquiring the red and blue with every possible gradation between the colors of the two sexes. 

 South Atlantic and Gulf States, abundant; up the coast to Carolina, and in the interior to 

 Illinois ; Texas and Mexico. An exquisite little creature of matchless hues, well named the 

 "incomparable''; a fair songster, and a favorite cage-bird in Louisiana. Nest in bushes, 

 hedi^es and low trees ; eggs pearly white, speckled with reddish and purplish browns. 

 P. versi 'color. (Lat. versicolor, various in color; verto, I turn ; color, color.) Purple 

 Painted Finch. Varied Bunting. Western Nonpareil. Prusiano. jJ, adult : Hind 

 head, throat, and fore breast brownish-red or claret-color, the former sometimes scarlet ; hind 

 neck and middle of back similar, but more obscured ; fore-part of crown purplish-red ; rump and 

 upper tail-coverts purplish-blue ; below, from the breast, and the wings and tail, dusky, tinged 

 or glossed with purplish; concealed white in feathers of side of rumjj ; lores and circumrostral 

 feathers black. Bill horn-bluish, paler below, stouter than in the other species, with very 

 convex culmen and concave cutting* edge of upper mandible. Feet dark. The versicoloration 

 is difficult to describe ; the general aspect is that of a purplish-dusky bird, redder or bluer here 

 and there. Size of the others. 9 plain brown above, whitey-brown below, like amoena and 

 cyanea; no whitish wing-bars; no black stripe on gonys ; concealed white on sides of rump; 

 bill stout. Lower California and Mexico, N. to U. S. border, especially in the Rio Grande 

 VaUey, where common in some localities. (Accidental in Michigan.) 



P. amoe'na. (Lat. amoena, delightful, charming, dressy.) Lazuli Painted Finch, ^f, 

 adult: Head and neck all around, entire upper parts, and hning of wings, rich azure or lapis- 

 lazuli blue, more or less obscured on the middle of the back ; the lores black. Below, from the 

 blue neck, chestnut-bro^vn, changing to white on the belly and crissum. A firm white wing- 

 bar across ends of the median coverts, and usually another weaker one across tips of greater 

 coverts. Wings and tail dusky, glossed with blue. Bill and feet bluish-black. Length 5.25- 

 5.50; extent 8.00-8.50; wing 2.75-3.00; tail 2.25-2.50; bill 0.37; tarsus 0.G5. 9, adult: 

 Above, flaxen-brown, nearly uniform, but with slightly darker centres oY the feathers, and some- 

 times a faint bluish gloss. Below, bufFy or brownish-white, most colored on the breast, palest 

 on throat and belly. Wings and tail fuscous, with faint bluish edgings usually, crossed with two 

 decided brownish-white bars, — the chief distinction from 9 cyanea. ^, young: Like the 9 > 

 when changing, patched with brown and blue; when very young, $ 9 somewhat streaky, 

 especially on under parts. Replacing P. cyanea from the Plains to the Pacific, common in 

 suitable places ; habits, nest, and eggs the same. 



P. cya'nea. (Lat. cyanea, Gr. Kvaveos, kuaneos, dark blue. Fig. 253.) Indigo Painted 

 Finch. Indigo-bird. Adult <J : Indigo-blue, intense and constant on the head, glancing 

 greenish with different lights on other parts ; wings and tail blackish, glossed with greenish- 

 blue ; feathers around base of bill black ; bill dark above, rather paler below, with a curious 

 black stripe along the gonys. 9 • Above, plain warm brown, below whitey-brown, obsolctely 

 streaky on the breast and sides; wing-coverts and inner quills pale-edged, but not M-liitish; 



