FRINGILLIDvE — THE FINCHES. 577 



Mr. Audubon says that this bird visits Louisiana and all the Southern 

 districts in winter, remaining from November to March, in great numbers. 

 They form groups of from thirty to fifty, and live together in great harmony, 

 feeding upon small seeds. At this time tliey are plump to excess, and are 

 regarded as a great delicacy. 



When kept in confinement these birds become quite tame, and in the 

 spring will sing at all hours of the day or night. 



The nest of this bird is usually, if not always, on the ground, l)ut in 

 various situations, as I have found them on a hillside, in the midst of low 

 underbrush, in a swampy thicket, at the foot of some large tree in a garden, 

 as at Halifax, by the edge of a small pond, or in a hollow and decaying 

 stump. Their nest is large, deep, and capacious, with a base of moss or 

 coarse grasses, woven with finer stems above and lined with hair, a few 

 feathers, fine rootlets of plants or soft grasses. The eggs vary from four 

 .to seven in number. Their ground-color is of a pale green or a greenish- 

 white, marked over the entire egg with a fox-colored or rusty brown. Occa- 

 sionally these markings are sparsely scattered, permitting the ground to be 

 plainly visible, but generally they are so very abundant as to cover the entire 

 egg so closely as to conceal all other shade, and give to the whole a deep 

 uniform rufous-brown hue, through which the under color of light green is 

 hardly distinguishable. They measure .90 by .68 of an inch. 



Zonotrichia querula, Gambel. 



HARRIS'S SPARROW; BLACK-HOODED SPARROW. 



Fringilla querula, Nuttall, :\Ian. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 555 (Westport, Mo.). Zonotrichia 

 querula, G.\mbel, J. A. N. Se. 2d Ser. I, 1847, 51. — Bonap. Consp. 1850, 478. — 

 Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 462. —Allen, Amer. Naturalist, May, 1872. FringUla 

 harrisi, AuD. Birds Am. VII, 1843, 331, pi. cccclxxxiv. Fringilla comafa, Pr. Max. 

 Reise II, 1841. — Ib. Cab.. Tour. VI, 1858, 279. Zonotrichia comata, Bp. Consp. 1850, 

 479. 



Sp. Char. Hood and nape, sides of head anterior to and including the eyes, chin, 

 throat, and a few spots in the middle of the upper part of the breast and on its sides, 

 black. Sides of head and neck ash-gray, with the trace of a narrow crescent back of the 

 ear-coverts. Interscapular region of back with the feathers reddish-brown streaked with 

 dark brown. Breast and belly clear white. Sides of body light brownish, streaked. 

 Two narrow white bands across the greater and middle coverts. Length about 7 inches ; 

 wing, 3.40; tail, 3.65. 



Hab. Missouri River, above Fort Leavenworth. Chillicothe, Mo. (Hoy). Very com- 

 mon in Eastern Kansas (Allkn). San Antonio, Texas, spring (Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 488). 



The bill of tliis species appears to be yellowish-red. More immature 

 specimens vary in having tlie black of the head above more restricted, the 

 nape and sides of the head to the bill pale reddish-brown, lighter on the latter 

 region. Others have the feathers of the anterior portion of the hood edged 

 witli whitish. In all there is generally a trace of black anterior to the eye. 

 73 



