FRINGILLID^ — THE FINCHES. 85 



it in Long's expedition. It was observed, though rarely, along the banks of 

 the Arkansas Eiver during the summer niontlis, as far as the base of the 

 Eocky Mountains. It was said to frequent the bushy valleys, keeping much 

 in the grass, after its food, and seldom alighting on either trees or shrubs. 



Townsend, who found this rather a common bird on the Columbia, re- 

 garded it as shy and retiring in its liabits, the female being very rarely seen. 

 It possesses lively and pleasing powers of song, which it pours forth from 

 the upper branches of low trees. Its nests were usually found placed in 

 willows along the margins of streams, and were composed of small sticks, 

 fine grasses, and buffalo-hair. 



Mr. Nuttall found the nest of this bird fastened between the stem and two 

 branches of a large fern. It was funnel-shaped, being six inches in height 

 and three in breadth. 



This bird possil)ly occurs quite rarely, as far east as the Mississippi, as I 

 have what is said to be its egg taken from a nest near St. Louis. It only 

 becomes abundant on the plains. Mr. Eidgway found it very generally dis- 

 tributed throughout his route, inhabiting all the bushy localities in the 

 fertile districts. He regarded it as, in nearly every respect, the exact 

 counterpart of the eastern C. cyanea. The notes of the two birds are so 

 exactly the same that their song would be undistinguishable but for the fact 

 that in the amcena it is appreciably weaker. He found their nests usually 

 in the low limbs of trees, near their extremity, and only a few feet from the 

 ground. Mr. J. A. Allen found this species common in Colorado, more so 

 among the foot-hills than on the plains, but does not appear to have met 

 with it in Kansas. 



This species, Mr. Lord states, visits Vancouver Island and British Columbia 

 early in tlie summer, arriving at the island in ISlay, and rather later east of 

 the Cascades. The song of the male is said to be feeble, and only now and 

 then indulged in, as if to cheer his more sombre partner during incubation. 

 The nest, he adds, is round and open at the top, composed of various mate- 

 rials worked together, lined witli hair, and placed in a low bush, usually by 

 the side of a stream. 



The Lazuli Finch was met with in large numbers, and many of their nests 

 procured, by Mr. Xantus, in the neighborhood of Ft. Tejon, California. Indeed, 

 it is a very abundant species generally on the Pacific coast, and is found at 

 least as far north as Puget Sound, during the summer. It arrives at San 

 Diego, according to Dr. Cooper, about April 22, and remains there until Oc- 

 tober. A male bird, kept in a cage over winter, was found to retain its blue 

 plumage. It is a favorite cage-bird in California, where it is absurdly known 

 as the Indigo Bird. During the summer months, according to Dr. Cooper, 

 there is hardly a grove in the more open portions of the State uninhabited by 

 one or more pairs of this beautiful species. Although the female is very shy 

 and difficult to obtain, except on the nest, the male is not timid, and fre- 

 quently sings his lively notes from the top of some bush or tree, continuing 



