458 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



No. 49,955, adult male. Nulato, Yukon River, Alaska. January 10, 1867. W. IT. 

 Ball (No. 553). 



The specimen referred to above is the first record of the occurrence in 

 America of a genus heretofore considered as belonging exclusively to the 

 Old World. 



This bird was described in 1869 as a possible variety of P. coccinea of 

 Europe. On submitting the typical specimens to ]\Ir. H. B. Tristram of 

 England, it was decided to be a well-marked and distinct species, as ex- 

 plained in the following extract from a letter received from him. 



"The coloration of the back is the same as in males of P. coccinea and 

 P. Tuhicilla, and differs from the coloration of the $ in all three species. In 

 all the 9 has the back brown instead of slate-colored. Your bird, however, 

 differs from P. coccinea in having the under parts of the same color as the $ 

 of P. griseiventris with a slightly redder hue on the flanks, while P. coccinea 

 is a brilliant blazing red. In this your bird is like P. murina of the Azores, 

 but that has no \\'hite on the rump. 



"Nor can it be $ juv. of P. coccinea, because it has the Uack head, and the 

 young assumes the black head and red breast simultaneously, or rather tlie 

 red begins first. It differs from P. nipalensls in having a black head and 

 broad white rump, as well as in size." 



Ur. 0. Finscli, of Bremen, agrees with Mr. Tristram in considering it as 

 specifically distinct, and says that the long white shaft-streak on the outer- 

 most tail-feather is to be considered as one of the peculiar characters, and 

 that in general it resembles the female of P. griseiventris, Lafk., but differs 

 in having the back beautiful asll-gra3^ 



Habits. This new species of Bullfinch, having a close resemblance to the 

 P. coccinea of Europe, was obtained by Mr. Dall, near Nulato, Alaska, January 

 10, 1867. An Indian brought it in alive, but badly wounded, having shot it 

 from a small tree near the fort. He had never seen anything like it before, 

 nor had any of the Ilussians. Captain Everett Smith had, however, met with 

 several fiocks of the same species near Ulukuk. This specimen was a male, 

 with black eyes, feet, and bill, and was the only bird of the kind met with 

 by Mr. Dall. 



In size it is about equal to P. coccinea, which is now quite generally con- 

 sidered to be simply a large race of the common Bullfinch {P. vulgaris), and 

 the habits of the American bird are doubtless similar to those of its con- 

 geners. The European races inhabit the mountainous regions of Northern 

 and Central Europe, appearing in large flocks in December and January in 

 the more southern regions. In their return in spring to their summer quar- 

 ters, they move in smaller nundjers. They nest in the mountain forests, on 

 trees or bushes. Their nest is usually but a few feet from the ground, is 

 beautifully w^rought in a cup shape, made externally of small twigs, blades of 

 grass, and rootlets, lined with coarse hair. They lay five eggs, the ground- 

 color of which shades from a light blue to a bluish or a greenish white, with 



