FllIXdlLLID.E — THE FINCHES. 



525 



(^KNLs PYRGITA, ruviKii. 



Pyrrjita, TrviEn, K. A. 1M7. ^Typf, FriiniiUn ilinmstioi, \ass.) 



ra.ss4:r, Ukisson, Oru. 170<». Siiiiir tyitc. Dkgi.and & Gk»:ije. Oin. Flurop. I, 1807, 'ioO. 



Gks, Char. Bill robiijit. swoIUmi, wi*'i'Mit luiy <listinct ridge ; upper ami iindrr outliiu-s 

 curved; nnirgiiis inlkx«'<l ; palate vaulted, without any knob; nostrils eovered by spaise, 

 short, iiieunibent leathers ; side of bill with stitF, appi-essed bristles. Tarsi shoil and stout, 

 about e([ual to or shorter than the middle toes; claws short, stout, and considerably curved. 

 Wings longer than tail; somewhat pointed. Tail nearly even, eniurginated, and slightly 

 rounded. 



Pyrgita domestica, Cuv. 



THE HOUSE SFABBOW. 



Fringilla domestica, Linn. Syst. Xat. 12tli ed. 323, 17t3(>. Pijnjitii domestica, C'rv. li<'g. 

 An. 2d ed. (1829), I, 439. rasser domesliciui, Dec.land k Geudk, Oniith. Eiuop. 1, 

 1867, 241. 



Sp. Char. }fale. Alcove ehestnut-brmvn ; the interscapulai- feathers streaked by black 

 on inner webs; the top of head and nape, lower 

 baekj rump, and tail-eoverts [)lain ashy ; narrow 

 frontal line, lores, chin, throat, and jugulum 

 black ; rest of under parts grayish, nearly white 

 alouir median reirion. A broad chestnut-brown 

 stripe from behind eye. running into the chest- 

 nut of ba-k ; cheeks and sides of neck white; 

 outside of closed wing, pale ehestnut-l)rown, 

 with a broad w-hite Itand on the middle cov- 

 erts, and behind showing the brown q ills; 

 the lesser coverts dark chestnut like the head 

 stripe. Tail dark brown, edged with pale 

 ehestmit. Dill black ; feet reddish. Iris 



1„.^>^^.„, ?yn;ita .lo,u.sti,:a. 



FenKtle. Duller of color, and lacking the black of face and throat : bi-rast and altdomen 

 reddish-ash; cheeks ashy ; a yellow-ochre band above and behind the eyes, and across 

 the wings. Head and neck above brownish-ash; body above reddish-ash, streaked lon- 

 gitudinally with black. 



Male ill winter. The colors orenerallv less distinct. Length, 0.(M(; wintr, '2.8o ; tail, 

 2.o0 ; tarsus. .70; middle toe and claw, .GO. 



Tlu» House S])arrow of Kiiro|»c Ims hoeii introduced into so many parts 

 of tlie United States as to render it ]>r(d)able tliat at no distant day it 

 will liave become one of our most familiar species. Brou^lit over to tlie 

 New World within a com]>arativelv lew years it has connnenceil to mul- 

 ti])ly about the lari^er cities, especially in tlie environs of Xew York, as also 

 about Portland, l»oston, Newark, and Philadelphia. The first effort made to 

 naturalize it about AVashinjjfton failed in conse([uence of the death of three 

 hundred individuals imported by the Smithsonian Institution. A second. 



