FRINGILLID^ — THE FINCHES. 13 



Eoss and J. Lockhart, and in the Red River settlements by Mr. C. A. Hub- 

 bard and Mr. Donald Gunn. 



Captain Blakiston noted the arrival of this bird at Fort Carlton on the 

 21st of May. He speaks of its note as very peculiar, resembling, though 

 sharper than, the buzzing made by a fly in a paper box, or a faint imitation 

 of the sound of a watchman's rattle. This song it utters perched on some 

 young tree or bush, sometimes only once, at others three or four times in 

 quick succession. 



Their nests appear to have been in all instances placed in trees or in 

 shrubs, generally in small spruces, two or three feet from the ground. In 

 one instance it was in a clump of small bushes not more than six inches 

 from the ground, and only a few rods from the buildings of Fort Resolution. 



Both this species and the S. hretueri were found by Lieutenant Couch at 

 Tamaulipas in March, 1855. It does not appear to have been met with by 

 any other of the exploring expeditions, but in 1864, for the first time, as Dr. 

 Heermann states, to his knowledge, these birds were found quite plentiful 

 near San Antonio, Texas, by Mr. Dresser. This was in April, in the fields 

 near that town. They were associating with the Melospiza lincolni and 

 other Sparrows. They remained about San Antonio until the middle of 

 May, after wdiich none were observed. 



The eggs of this species are of a light blue, with a slight tinge of greenish, 

 and are marked around the larger end with spots and blotches of a purplish- 

 brown, rather finer, perhaps, than in the egg of S. socialis, though very similar 

 to it. They average .70 of an inch in length, and vary in breadth from 

 .50 to .52 of an inch. 



Spizella pallida, var. breweri, Cassin. 



BREWER'S SPARROW. 



Emheriza pallida, AuD. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 66, pi. cccxcviii, f. 2. — Ib. Synopsis, 1839. 

 — Ib. Birds Am. Ill, 1841, 71, pi. clxi (not of Swainson, 1831). Spizella breweri, 

 •> Cassin, Pr. A. N. Sc. VIII, Feb. 1856, 40. — Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 475.— 



Cooper, Orn. Cal. I, 209. 



Sp. Chae. Similar to S. pallida ; the markings including the nuchal collar more 

 obsolete; no distinct median and superciliary light stripes. The crown streaked with 

 black. Some of the feathers on the sides with brown shafts. Length, 5 inches ; wing, 

 2.50. Young streaked beneath, as in pallida. 



Hab. Rocky Mountains of United States to the Pacific coast. 



This race is very similar to the S. pallida, and requires close and critical 

 comparison to separate it. Tlie streaks on the back are narrower, and the 

 central ashy and lateral whitish stripes of the crown are scarcely, if at all, 

 appreciable. The clear unstreaked ash of the back of the neck, too, is 

 mostly wanting. The feathers along the sides of the body, near the tibia, 



