FRINGILLIDH, FINCHES, ETC.—GEN. 55, 56. 127 
aware that a rigid definition has been successfully attempted. Ornithologists are 
nearly agreed what birds to call fringilline, without being very well prepared to say 
what ‘‘fringilline” means. The division of the family into minor groups, as might 
be expected, is a conventional matter at present—the subfamilies vary with every 
leading writer. Our species might be thrown into several groups, but the distinc- 
tions would be more or less arbitrary, not readily perceived, and doubtless negatived 
upon consideration of exotic material. It becomes necessary, therefore, to waive 
this matter, and simply collocate the genera in orderly sequence. 
The Fringillide are popularly known by several different names. Here belong 
all the sparrows, with the allied birds called finches, buntings, linnets, grosbeaks 
and crossbills. In the following pages I describe seventy-one species, well deter- 
mined, and ascertained to occur within our limits, referring them to thirty-four 
genera, as the custom is, although I think this number of genera altogether too large. 
Species occur throughout our country, in every situation, and many of them are among 
our most abundant and familiar birds. They are all granivorous—seed-eaters, but 
many feed extensively on buds, fruits and other soft vegetable substances, as well 
as on insects. They are not so perfectly migratory as the exclusively insectivorous 
birds, the nature of whose food requires prompt remoyal at the approach of cold 
weather ; but, with some exceptions, they withdraw from their breeding places in 
the fall to spend the winter further south, and to return in the spring. With a few 
signal exceptions they are not truly gregarious birds, though they often associate 
in large companies, assembled in community of interest. The modes of nesting are 
too various to be here summarized. Nearly all the finches sing, with varying 
ability and effect; some of them are among our most delightful vocalists. As a 
rule, they are plainly clad—even meanly, in comparison with some of our sylvan 
beauties ; but among them are birds of elegant and striking colors. Among the 
highly-colored ones, the sexes are more or less unlike, and other changes, with age 
and season, are strongly marked ; the reverse is the case with the rest. 
55. Genus HESPERIPHONA Bonaparte. 
Evening Grosbeak. Dusky olivaceous, brighter behind, forehead, line 
over eye and under tail coverts yellow; crown, wings, tail and tibie black, 
the secondary quills mostly white; bill greenish-yellow, of immense size, 
about # of an inch long and nearly as deep; 74-83; wing 4-44; tail 24. 
The 9? and young differ somewhat, but cannot be mistaken. Plains to the 
Pacific, U. S., and somewhat northward; occasional eastward to Ohio and 
Illinois, and even straying to Canada (McLlwraith) and New York (Law- 
rence). AUD., iii, 217, pl. 207; Bp., 409; Coop., 174. . VESPERTINA. 
56. Genus PINICOLA Vieillot. 
Pine Grosbeak. @ carmine red, paler or whitish on the belly, darker 
and streaked with dusky on the back; wings and tail dusky, much edged 
with white, former with two white bars; 9 ashy-gray, paler below, marked 
with brownish-yellow on the head and rump. 8-9 long; wing 43; tail 4, 
emarginate ; bill short, stout, convex in all directions. Northern North 
America, appearing in the United States in winter, generally in flocks, in 
pine woods ; resident in the Sierra Nevada of California (Cooper). W1LS., i, 
80, pl. 5; Aup., iii, 179, pl. 199; Bp., 410; Coor., 152. . ENUCLEATOR. 
