EEING-ILLID^ —-THE FINCHES. 



77 



equal ; the second quill longest ; the first less than the fourth, 

 shorter than the wings. 



Tail very nearly even, 



The single North Ameri- 

 can species of this genus has 

 no near relative in tropical 

 America ; indeed, no other 

 species at present known 

 can be said to be strictly 

 congeneric. 



In all essential details of 

 external structure, and in 

 every respect as to habits 

 and nidification, the type of 

 the genus {G. ccerulea) is 

 much more like the species of Cyanospiza than those of Hedymdes, with 

 which latter it has usually been included. 



Gidraca carulea. 



Guiraca cserulea, Swainson. 



BLUE GROSBEAK. 



Loxia ccerulea, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 306. — Wilson, Am. Orn. Ill, 1811, 78, pi. xxiv, 

 f. 6. — ?Wagler, Isis, 1831, 52.5. Guiraca ccerulea, Swainson, Birds Mex. in Phil. 

 Mag. I, 1827, 438. — Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 499. —Cooper, Orn. Cal. I, 230. 

 Fringilla cxrulca, AuD. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 140 ; V, 508, pi. cxxii. Coccoborus 

 cwruleiis, Sw. Birds II, 1837, 277. —Aud. Syn. 1839. — Ib. Birds Am. Ill, 1841, 204, 

 pi. cciv. — Cabanis, Mus. Hein. 1851, 152. — Finsch, Abh. Nat. Brem. 1870, 339 

 (Mazatlan). Cyanoloxia ccerulea, Bp. Conspectus, 1850, 502. Goniaphoea ccerulea, Bp. 

 Blue Grosbeak, Pennant, Arc. Zool. II, 1785, 351. 



Sp. Char. Brilliant blue ; darker across the middle of the back. Space around base 



of the bill and lores, with tail-feathers, 

 black. Two bands on the wing across the 

 tips of the middle and secondary coverts, 

 with outer edges of tertiaries, reddish- 

 brown, or perhaps chestnut. Feathers on 

 the posterior portion of the under sur- 

 face tipped narrowly with grayish-white. 

 Length, 7.25 ; wing, 3.50 ; tail, 2.80. 



Female yellowish-brown above, brown- 

 ish-yellow beneath ; darkest across the 

 breast. Wing-coverts and tertials broadly 

 edged with brownish-yellow. Sometimes a 

 faint trace of blue on the tail. The young 

 resembles the female. 



Hab. More southern United States from 

 Atlantic to Pacific, south to Costa Rica. 



Xalapa (Scl. 1859, 365) ; Oaxaca (Scl. 1859, 378); Cordova (Scl. 1856, 301) ; Cuba (Cab. 



J. IV, 9) ; Vera Paz (Salvin, Ibis, III, 352) ; Costa Rica (Lawr. IX, 102) ; Vera Cruz, 



winter (Sum. M. B. S. I, 552) ; Yucatan (Lawr. IX, 200). 



Giiiraca carulea. 



