/ / Z FRINGILLID^E. 



cheek-spot, forming a cresceut on its upper margin ; sides of fore 

 neck and breast bright yellow, becoming paler towards the abdomen, 

 which is whitish ; sides of breast ashy grey ; sides of body and 

 flanks pale ashy brown ; thighs whitish, externally yellow ; under 

 tail-coverts white ; under wing-coverts and axillaries white, with 

 bright 3 ellow bases ; edge of wing bright yellow ; quills below 

 dusky, ashy along their inner edge : " bill light blue ; feet and claws 

 light brownish red ; iris hazel " {Audubon), Total length 6 inches, 

 culmen 0-6, wing 3-3, tail 2-4, tarsus 0-9. 



Adult female. Different from the male. General colour above 

 Sparrow-like, the mantle and upper back light brown, streaked with 

 black ; the lower back and rump uniform ashy brown ; lesser wing- 

 coverts like the back ; median coverts blackish brown, tipped with 

 rufous-brown and edged with huffy white ; greater coverts and 

 quills blackish brown, edged with whity brown, and subterminally 

 washed with rufous on the inner greater coverts and secondaries ; 

 upper tail-coverts and tail-feathers dark brown, edged with whity 

 brown ; crown of head and hind neck dark ashy, streaked with 

 dusky brown : lores dusky whitish ; an indistinct eyebrow of pale 

 yellow ; eyelid dull whitish ; ear-coverts dark ashy brown, with 

 whitish shaft-lines ; cheeks ahd throat white, with a yellow mark 

 on the former ; in the centre of the throat a few black spots, as well 

 as a few below the yellow cheek-spot : fore neck and chest yellow ; 

 breast ashy brown, tinged with yellow in the centre ; abdomen and 

 under tail-coverts dull whitish ; sides of body and flanks ashy brown, 

 the lower flanks with narrow blackish streaks ; thighs brown ; 

 under wing-coverts and axillaries ashy brown, tinged with yellow ; 

 quills below dusky, ashy along the inner edge. Total length 5 # 2 

 inches, culmen 0-55, wing 3-8, tail 2, tarsus 0-85. 



Young birds resemble the adult female, but have the head brown 

 like the back, and similarly streaked with black ; the ear-coverts 

 uniform pale ashy brown ; scarcely any trace of yellow on the eye- 

 brow or cheeks ; the under surface of the body whitish, with the 

 fore neck yellowish buff, with a few streaks of black, which extend 

 upwards along the side of the throat ; the centre of the breast tinged 

 with yellow, the dark streaks being less apparent, but becoming well 

 characterized again on the flanks, which are pale brown like the 

 sides of the body. 



The characters of the adult male are very gradually assumed ; the 

 yellow chest and black throat are often found very feebly developed 

 in specimens killed before the breeding-season has commenced. The 

 uniform chestnut on the wing-coverts seems to be the last sign of 

 full maturity, and some of the specimens examined, though killed 

 in the breeding-season, and otherwise in complete plumage, still have 

 the wing-coverts margined with rufous, as in the adult female. 



There does not seem to be much difference in the winter plumage 

 of the adults, but the male has the black throat-spot obscured by 

 ashy tips to the feathers. 



Adult females in breeding-plumage vary somewhat. In one 

 specimen the fore neck is only slightly tinged with yellow, and is 



