BIRDS — FRINGILLIDAE CYANOSPIZA CIRIS. 



503 



CYANOSPIZA VERSICOLOR, Baird. 



Spiza versicolor, Bon. Pr. Zuol. Soc. 1837, 120.— Ib. Conspectus Av. 1850, 475.— Cab. Mus. Hein. 1851, 148. 

 Carduelis luxuosus, Lesson, Rev. Zool. 1839, 41. 



Sp. Ch. — Posterior half of hood, with throat dark brownish red; interscapular region, similar but darker. Fore part of 

 hood, lesser wing coverts, back of the neck, and rump, purplish blue ; the latter purest blue ; the belly reddish purple, in places 

 tinged with blue, more obscure posteriorly. Feathers of wing and tail dark brown, edged with dull bluish. Loral region and 

 narrow frontal band black. Length, 5.50 ; wing, 2.75 ; tail, 2.38. 



Hab. — Northeastern Mexico, probably to the Rio Grande. Peru, Bonaparte. 



This beautiful Spiza is sufficiently distinct from the other North American species not to 

 require any comparison between adult males; the female I have never seen. The bill is 

 stouter and more swollen to the end, and the mandible is much more curved than that of 

 C. cyanea, and its perfectly concave commissure, without any shallow lobe in the middle, 

 and the much more arched ridge, would almost separate the two generically. The wing is 

 shorter and more rounded, the fourth quill longest, then the third, second, and fifth. The first 

 is only a little longer than the seventh. The tail is decidedly rounded; rather more so than in 

 C. cyanea. 



List of specimens. 



CYANOSPIZA CIRIS, Baird. 



Nonpareil— Painted Biiiitiug. 



Emberiza ciris, Linn. Kong. Sv. Vet. Akad. Hand. 1750, 278 ; tab. vii, f. 1.— Ib. Syst. Nat. I, 17GG, 313. — Wilson, 



Am. Orn. Ill, 1811, G8 ; pi. xxiv, f. 1, 2. 

 Passerina ciris, Vieillot, Gal. Ois. 1, 1824, 81 ; pL Ixvi. 

 Fringilla ciHs, AnD. Orn. Biog. I, 1832, 279 : V. 517 ; pi. 53. 

 Spiza ciris, Eon, List, 1838.— Is. Conspectus, 1850, 476.— Acd. Syn. 1839, 108.— Ib. Birds Amer. Ill, 1841, 93 ; 



pi. 169. 

 Pttinledfmcli, Catesbt, Pennant. 



Sp. Ch. — Male. Head and neck all round ultramarine blue, excepting a narrow stripe from the chin to the breast, which, 

 with the under parts generally, the eyelids, and the rump, (which is tinged with purplish,) are vermilion red. Edges of chin, 

 loral region, greater wing coverts, inner tertiary and interscapular region, green ; the middle of the latter glossed with yellow. 

 Tail feathers, lesser wing coverts, and outer webs of quills, purplish blue. Length, about 5.50 inches ; wing, 2.70. 

 • Female. — Clear dark green above ; yellow beneath. Young, intermediate. 



Jiab. — South Atlantic and Gulf States to the Pecos river, Texas. South into Mexico. 



Tail very slightly emarginate and rounded ; second, third, and fourth quills equal ; first 

 rather shorter than the fifth. 



The female is readily distinguishable from that of C. cyanea by the green instead of dull 

 brown of the back, and the yellow of the under parts. 



Specimens from southern Texas are smaller than those of Georgia. 



