130 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



says that the "wholesale price is 10s 1 . a pair, but singly 

 15s. to 24s. It has been exhibited more than once in the 

 London Zoological Gardens, but will, I fear, be rarely 

 seen in the future. In the United States it is popularly 

 known as " che-wink," " towhee," or " Ground-Robin.'" 



MEXICAN SPOTTED GBOUND-FINCH (Pipllo maculatus). 



Black, rather browner on lower back and rump ; upper 

 hack and scapulars streaked with white ; wing-coverts 

 tipped with white, conspicuously on median and greater 

 coverts ; primaries narrowly edged with white ; second- 

 aries with a broad stripe along outer weB ; upper tail- 

 coverts tipped with rusty-white fringes ; four outer tail 

 feathers, with terminal white spot, increasing in width 

 outwardly ; throat mottled with white ; breast and 

 abdomen white, the latter tinted with tawny ; sides and 

 flanks bright ta.wny; thighs black, with whitish edges 

 to feathers ; under tail-coveits paler tawny ; under wing- 

 coverts and axillaries white, d^lsky at base, the latter 

 tinted yellowish ; flights below blackish, with ashy 

 inner margins ; beak black ; feet brownish ; irides 

 reddish. Female with the throat and chest more sooty, 

 browner ; crown dark brown, usually streaked with 

 black ; back and scapulars more olivaceous and therefore 

 less black. Hab., " Central America, from Mexico to 

 Guatemala." (Sharpe). 



As P. megalonyx from the Rocky Mountain region to 

 California is regarded as a sub-species of the above, I 

 quote the following notes on the wild life, from J. G. 

 Cooper's " Ornith. Calif.," Vol. I., pp. 242-3 : " Their 

 favourite residence is in thickets and oak groves, Avhere 

 they live mostly on the ground, scratching among the 

 dead leaves in the concealment of the undergrowth. 

 and rarely venturing far from shelter. They never fly 

 more than a few yards at a time, and only a few feet 

 above the ground. About towns, if unmolested, they 

 become more familiar, entering gardens and making their 

 homes about the houses. They have little musical power, 

 the males merely uttering a feeble, monotonous trill 

 from the top of some low bush. The nest is made on the 

 ground under a thicket, constructed of dry leaves, stalks, 

 and grass mixed with fine roots. The eggs, four or five 

 in number, are greenish-white, minutely speckled with 

 reddish-ibrown. They measure 1.00 by 0.70." 



Russ says that in the course of years the dealer Mieth 

 has on two occasions obtained a single specimen from 

 small dealers at Hamburg, but both died before he had 

 disposed of them. Nevertheless, there is no reason why 

 a bird occurring in Central America, should not still 

 come to hand, and therefore I think it better not to pass 

 it over. 



BLACK-THROATED BUNTING* (Spiza Americana)- 



Above brown, the crown and nape ash-grey, the mantle 

 and upper back washed with the same and black 

 streaked, the lower back and rump also ashy-brown, but 

 unstreaked ; lesser and median wing-coverts chestnut ; 

 greater coverts blackish, externally pale rufescent and 

 with ashy fulvous margins; rest of wing-feathers black- 

 ish-brown, the primaries with ashy margins, the second- 

 aries with broader rufescent margins ; upper tail-coverts 

 and tail-feathers brown, with ashy edges and whiti-sh 

 fringes to inner webs ; a pale spot at one-third from 

 tips ; front part of crown more or less olivaceous ; eye- 

 brow stripe pale yellow, sometimes white at back ; ear- 

 coverts ashy, slightly tinted with olivaceous ; cheeks 

 white ; a yellow mark below eye ; sides of throat, chin 

 and upper throat white ; centre of throat occupied by a 

 black patch, varying greatly in extent, sometimes con- 

 tinued forward towards chin, and sometimes backward 

 * Called " Dickcissel " in. the United States. 



through centre of breast; sides of fore-neck and 

 breast bright yellow becoming whitish on abdo- 

 men; sides ashy-grey, becoming browner on flanks - r 

 thighs whitish, yellow externally; under tail- 

 coverts, _ wing-coverts, and axillaries white, the 

 latter with yellow bases; edge of wing bright 

 yellow; flights below dusky wiUi ashy inner edges; 

 upper mandible blackish, tomium and lower mandible 

 bluish-grey, a black streak towards tip below; feet 

 horn-brownish ; irides brown. Female with the erown. 

 and nape streaked with black; the mantle and baek 

 pale brown, but also streaked ; lesser wing-coverts like 

 the back; remainder of wing-feathers* blackish-brown,, 

 median coverts rufescent at tips and edged with buff- 

 whitish; other feathers with whity-brown, the inner 

 greater-coverts and secondaries rufescent towards tips ;. 

 upper tail-coverts and tail-feathers dark brown witb 

 pale edges ; lores dull whitish ; eyebrow stripe ill-de- 

 fined pale yellow; eyelid whitish; ear-coverts dark 

 ashy-brown with whitish shafts; cheeks white with a 

 yellow spot; throat white with a few black spots; fore- 

 neck and chest yellow, breast ashy-brown, yellowish in. 

 the centre; abdomen and -under tail-coverts whitish; 

 sides and flanks ashy-brown ; lower flanks streaked witb 

 blackish ; thighs brown ; under wing-coverts and axil- 

 laries ashy-brown, tinged with yellow; flights below 

 dusky with ashy inner edges. Hab., United States east 

 of the Rocky Mountains; wintering in New Mexico, 

 Arizona, Mexico, Central America, to Colombia and! 

 Trinidad, occasional in Jamaica and Swan Island. 



According to Gentry this bird is tolerably abundant 

 in Eastern Pennsylvania in meadows and uncultivated 

 fields, but always in pairs, not flocks; it is remarkably- 

 confiding, so that one car. approach it quite closely, 

 when disturbed it soon returns to the same spot. Only 

 before migration does it unite into large flocks, of 

 which, however, other species form the greater number. 

 It flies low, with an undulating and easy movement. 

 Two months after it arrival it sings to us indefatigably 

 from sunrisa to sunset at its favourite places of resort. 

 The isong is rendered by Wilson as chip-chip-che, che> 

 clu-, and resembles that of the Yellowhammer. The 

 food consist* of all kinds of seeds, berries, and irrsects, 

 which ifc searches for on the ground, otherwise it prefers ; 

 to remain in a bush or on low trees. About the last 

 third of May or the beginning of June, usually five 

 days after pairing, breeding commences. The nest is 

 almost always on the ground, very rarely in a bush: is' 

 constructed of various grasses and plant stalks, and 

 lined with fine materials ; both sexes build together. 

 The clutch consists of four or five uniformly light blue- 

 eggs. The female incubates alone for twelve days. The- 

 young are fed with caterpillars, blight, and all other 

 kinds of soft insects. After thirteen days the young 

 leave the nest, and are fed for nine or ten days after- 

 wards by their parents. Only one brood is reared iir 

 the year. 



Russ says that it comes' into the market through- 

 Reiche of Alfeld and Miss Hagenbeck of Hamburg, 

 that it first appeared in the London Zoological Gardens 

 in 1873. and has been exhibited several times at the 

 Berlin Zoological Gardens and Aquarium. The usual 

 price of the male is about twelve to fifteen marks ; the- 

 female is hardly ever imported, and consequently it has 

 not been bred in captivity. 



CITRON FINCH (Psfurlnclilnri* nfrina). 

 Above olive-yellowish ; mantle and back broadly 

 marked with blackish brownr; wing-feathers blackish- 

 with olive-yellow borders ; the margins of the inner 

 secondaries somewhat ashy ; tail-feathers blackish with 

 olive-yellow margins, the two outer feathers with 



