FRINOILLA PSALTRIA. 



ARKANSAS SISKIN. 



[Plate VI. Fig. 3.] 

 Fringilla psaltria, Sat, in Long's Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, n., p. 10. 



"A VERY pretty little bird," writes Say, in his precious zoological 

 notes to the journal of Long's expedition, " was frequently seen hop- 

 ping about in the low trees or bushes, singing sweetly, somewhat in the 

 manner of the American Goldfinch, or Hempbird, Fringilla, tristis. 

 The tints, and the distribution of the colors of its plumage, resemble, 

 in a considerable degree, those of the autumnal and less brilliant vesture 

 of that well known species. It may, however, be distinguished, in 

 addition to other differences, by the black tip of its tail feathers, and 

 the white wing spot." 



The Arkansas Siskin inhabits the country near the base of the Rocky 

 Mountains, south of the river Platte, and probably is also to be found 

 in Mexico. The only specimen brought by the party, was shot on the 

 sixteenth of July, near Boiling Spring creek : on the annexed plate, it 

 is figured in company with the American Goldfinch in autumnal plum- 

 age, for the sake of comparison. 



The Arkansas Siskin is four inches and a quarter long ; the bill is 

 yellowish, tipped with blackish ; the feet are flesh color ; the irides 

 burnt-umber. The top of the head is blue-black ; the cheeks are dusky- 

 olivaceous ; the neck above and half its side, the back, and rump, are 

 olivaceous, more or less intermixed with dusky and yellowish, particu- 

 larly on the rump ; the superior tail coverts are black, varied with 

 olivaceous : all the under parts, from the very base of the bill to the 

 under tail coverts inclusively, are of a pure bright yellow. The wings 

 are brownish-black, the smaller wing coverts being very slightly tinged 

 with blue, and edged with olivaceous ; the greater wing coverts are 

 tipped with white, which forms a narrow band across the wing ; the 

 primaries, excepting the exterior one, are slightly edged with white ; the 

 third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh, are white towards the base, so as 

 to exhibit a white spot beyond the wing coverts ; the first four primaries 

 are nearly equal in length, the fifth is a quarter of an inch shorter ; the 

 secondaries are broadly margined with white exteriorly, towards their 

 tips. The tail is slightly emargiiiated, the feathers being blackish, 

 slightly edged with dull whitish ; the three exterior ones are widely 

 pure white on the middle of their inner webs. 



The specimen we have just described is a male, evidently in perfect 



(185) 



