FRINGILLID^ — THE FINCHES. 33 



Lieutenant Couch took this species at Tamaulipas, Mexico, and at Browns- 

 Yille, Southwestern Texas, in March. It has also been seen in May, at the 

 Forks of the Saskatchewan, by Captain Blakiston. 



Lincoln's Finch was met with by Mr. liidgway in abundance only during 

 its spring and fall migrations. Towards the last of April it was quite 

 common in wet brushy places in the vicinity of Carson City. It was next 

 observed in October among the willows bordering Deep Creek, in Northern 

 Utah. In the weedy pastures in Parley's Park it was a common species, 

 frequenting the resorts of the Z. leucojjhrys. A nest, with young, was dis- 

 covered near the camp. It was embedded in the ground, beneath a bush. 

 Its song he did not hear, only a single clmck, almost as loud as that of the 

 Fasscrella schistacea. 



Dr. Cooper reports this species as near San Diego about March 25. Large 

 flocks were then passing northward. During the day they kept among the 

 grass, and were rather shy and silent. They seemed to have a good deal of 

 the habits of the Passeradus, and to differ much in their gregariousuess, their 

 migratory habits, and their general form, from the other Melospizce. Dr. 

 Cooper did not meet with any of these birds in the Colorado Valley, nor has 

 he seen or heard of any having been found in California daring the summer. 

 The M. lincolni has been found breeding up to high Arctic latitudes. It was 

 met with by Mr. Kennicott at Fort Simpson and at Fort Eesolution. At the 

 latter place its nests were found between the 2d and the 14th of June. 

 They were also obtained in May, June, and July, at Fort Simpson, by Mr. 

 B. E. Pioss, and at Yukon Iliver, Fort Eae, Nulato, and other localities in the 

 extreme northern regions, by Messrs. Eeid, Lockhart, Clarke, Kirkby, and 

 Dall. On Mt. Lincoln, Colorado, above eight thousand feet, Mr. Allen found 

 this Sparrow very numerous. 



This Finch was found by Salvin about the reeds on the margin of Lake 

 Duehas, Guatemala, in February, but was not common. It is common, in 

 the winter months, near Oaxaca, Mexico, where it was taken by Mr. Boucard. 



Mr. Kennicott saw its nest June 14. This was on the ground, built in a 

 bunch of grass in rather an open and dry place, and containing five eggs. 

 The female permitted him to approach very close to her, until he finally 

 caught her on the nest with his beating-net. Another nest was placed 

 in a bunch of grass growing in the \vater of a small grassy pond. The 

 nest contained four eggs and one young bird. 



The nest and eggs of this species had been previously discovered by Dr. 

 Hoy, near Eacine. This is, I believe, the first instance in which it was iden- 

 tified by a naturalist, as also the most southern point at which it has ever 

 been found. These eggs measure .74 by .60 of an inch. They have a pale 

 greenish-white ground, and are thickly marked with dots and small blotches 

 of a ferruginous-brown, often so numerous and confluent as to disguise and 

 partially conceal the ground. 



