INSESSORES : FRINGILLHXE. 217 



the wing three inches ; the color bright ultramarine blue. 

 The female is brown above, whitish beneath. This bird 

 prefers the skirts of woodlands and detached thickets. 

 Its song consists of eight or ten notes, and is generally 

 uttered from the top of a low tree. It builds its nest of 

 grass on the stalks of rank grass or other plants ; eggs 

 four to six, blue, with a spot or two of purple at the 

 larger end. 



The Genus Spermophila comprises the Little Seed- 

 eater, 5. moreletii, Puch., of Texas and southward. 



The Genus Pyrrhuloxia has the bill very short, broad, 

 and greatly curved. 



The Texas Cardinal, P. sinuata, Bonap., of the Rio 

 Grande region, is eight and a half inches long, the wing 

 three and three quarters inches ; the head with a long 

 pointed crest ; the upper parts generally pale ashy-brown ; 

 crest, wing, and tail, dark crimson ; throat, breast, median 

 line below, under tail-coverts, the edge and inner coverts 

 of the wings, bright carmine ; the bill yellowish. 



The Genus Cardinalis has the bill enormously devel- 

 oped, and the head crested. 



The Red Bird or Cardinal, C. virginianus, Bonap., of 

 the more southern parts of the United States, is eight 

 and a half inches long, the wing three and three quarters 

 inches, and the general color vermilion ; a band around 

 the base of the bill and upper part of the throat black. 

 The female with duller red, and less in extent. 



The Genus Pipilo has the bill rather stout, feet large, 

 the claws stout and curved, tail considerably longer than 

 the wings ; the upper parts generally black or brown, 

 under parts white or brown. 



The Ground-Robin, Towhee, or Chewink, P. erythroph- 



thalmus, Vieill., of the United States east of the Missouri, 



is eight and three quarters inches long, the wing three 



and three quarters inches ; the upper parts generally, 



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