ZOOLOGY BIRDS. 47 



and the intermediate country down to the southern part of California. Its chant, shrill and 

 musical, repeated at intervals, resembles in sweetness and tone that of our Indigo hird (Spiza 

 cyanea.) Its nest, attached to the upright branches of bushes or the stalks of strong weeds, is 

 built of grasses lined with the inner bark of the oak, and contains four eggs of a faint blue 

 tinge. 



JUNCO OREGONUS, Towns .Oregon Snow Finch. 



Fringilla oregona, TOWNS. Jour. Ac. N. S. Phil. vol. VII, p. 188. AUD. B. of A. Fol. pi. 398. 

 Niphoea oregona, AUD. Oct vol. Ill, p. 91, pi. 1G8. 

 Junco oregona, BAIRD, Gen. Eep. IX, 467. 



We met with this bird near Fort Yuma in December, having previously remarked it during 

 the fall, in large flocks, migrating from the north, where it spends the summer in the duties of 

 incubation. Its habits are similar to those of our common snow bird, (Junco hyemalis,} and 

 like that species it prefers the grass fields, hedges and woods, actively employed in seeking its 

 food on the ground and emitting at intervals a sharp chirp. The nest of this bird, built in a 

 low cedar bush, was composed of grasses and lined with fine roots and hair. The eggs, four in 

 number, were light greenish and roseate white with spots of faint neutral tint and larger 

 ones varying in hue, from a reddish to a dark sepia. 



PASSERELLA TOWNSENDII, Aud.Townsend s Finch. 



Pkctrophanes townsendii, AUD. B. of A. Fol. pi. 424. 



Fringilla cinerea, AUD. B. of A. Oct. vol. Ill, p. 145, pi. 187. 



Passerella townsendii, BAIRD, Gen. Rep. IX, p. 439. 



Abundant and migratory, visiting California only during the winter. Of a solitary and quiet 

 nature, it resorts to the thickets and underwood in quest of food, scratching up and turning over 

 the leaves and ground, making occasionally a hop backwards to ascertain the result of its labors. 

 Its habits are the same as those of our fox sparrow, (Z. iliaca.) In the octavo edition of Mr. 

 Audubon s work on the Birds of America, the name of brown finch has been given to the figure 

 of this bird, while to the figure of the Z. guttata the name of Townsend s finch has been 

 applied. This is evidently a mistake on the part of the engraver of the plates. 



ZONOTRICHIA GRAMINEA, Gmel. Bay-winged Finch. 



Emberiza graminea, WILS. Am. Orn. vol. IV, p. 51, pi. 31, fig. 5. AUD. B. of A. Oct vol. Ill, p. 65, pi. 159. 

 Fringilla graminea, AUD. Fol. pi. 94. NUTT. Orn. vol. I, p. 482. 

 Pooecetes gramineus, BAIRD, Gen. Rep. IX, 447. 



A very abundant species, being found not only in California but also in New Mexico and 

 Texas. 



ZONOTRICHIA GUTTATA, Nutt .Brown Song Sparrow. 



Fringilla guttata, NUTT. Orn. 2d edit. vol. I, p. 581. 



Fringilla toivnsendii, AUD. B. of A. Oct. vol. Ill, p. 143, pi. Ic8. 



Fringilla cinerea, AUD. B. of A. Fol. pi. 390, fig. 4. 



Abundant throughout the whole country, but more especially so in the bushes bordering the 

 streams, ponds, or marshes. Its notes are sweet but few in number, resembling those of our 

 common song sparrow, (Zonotrichia melodia.) Its nest, usually built in a thick tuft of bushes, 

 is composed externally of grasses and lined with hair, containing four eggs of a pale blue ash 

 color, very thickly covered with dashes of burnt umber. 



