90 



NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



first male bird of tliis species that notices it is sure to make an attack upon 

 it, and is at once trapped. So pertinacious are they tliat even when thus 

 imprisoned the captive repeats its attack upon its supposed rival. They 

 feed almost immediately upon being caught, and usually thrive in confine- 

 ment, Audubon mentioning one that had been caged for ten years. 



This bird is very easily made to breed in confinement. Dr. Bachman has 

 had a single pair thus raise three broods in a season. 



The eggs of this species measure .80 by .65 of an inch, and do not at all 

 resemble the eggs of the cyanca or amcena. They have a dull or pearly- 

 white ground, and are very characteristically marked with blotches and dots 

 of purplish and reddish brown. 



Genus SFERMOFHILA, Swainson. 



Spermophila, Swainson, Zool. Jour. Ill, Nov. 1827, 348. {Type, PyrrJmla faleirostris, 



Temm. Sufficiently distinct from Spermophilus, F. Cuv. 1822.) 

 Sporophila, Cabanis, Mus. Hein. 1851, 148. (Type, Fringilla IvypoUuca, Light.) 



Gen. Char. 



Bill very short and very much curved, as in Pyrrliula, almost as deep as 

 long ; the commissure concave, abruptly bent 

 towards the end. Tarsus about equal to middle 

 toe ; inner toe rather the longer (?), reaching about 

 to the base of the middle one ; hind toe to the 

 middle of this claw. Wings short, reaching over 

 the posterior third of the exposed part of the tail ; 

 the tertiaries gradually longer than the secondaries, 

 neither much shorter than the primaries, which are 

 graduated, and but little different in length, the 

 first shorter than the sixth, the second and fourth 

 equal. The tail is about as long as the wings, 

 rounded, all the feathers slightly graduated, rather 

 Smallest of American passerine birds. 



Spermophila moreleti. 



sharply acuminate and decidedly mucronate, 



The essential characters of this genus are the small, very convex bill, as 

 high as long ; the short broad wings, with the quills differing little in length, 

 the outer ones graduated ; the tail as long as the wings, widened towards the 

 end, and sliglitly graduated, with the acuminate and mucronate tip to the 

 feathers. 



Many species of the genus occur in Middle and South America, although 

 none not readily distinguishable from the single North American one. 



