FRlNaiLLID.E — THE FINCHES. 577 



Mr. Audubon says that this bird visits Louisiana and all the Southern 

 districts in ^vinter, remaining from November to March, in great numbers. 

 They form groups of from thirty to fifty, and Jjve together in great harmony, 

 feeding upon small seeds. At this time they are i)lunip to excess, and are 

 regarded as a gi*eat delicacy. 



When kept in confinement tliese birds become quite tame, and in the 

 spring will sing at all hours of the day or night. 



Tlie nest of this bird is usuallv, if not alwjivs, on the ground, but in 

 various situations, as I have found them on a^hillside, in the midst of low- 

 underbrush, in a swampy thicket, at the foot of some large tree in a garden, 

 as at Halifax, by the edge of a small pond, or in a hollow and decaying 

 stump. Their nest is large, deep, and capacious, with a base of moss or 

 coarse grasses, woven with finer stems above and lined with liair, a few 

 feathers, fine rootlets of plants or soft grasses. Tlie eggs vary from four 

 to seven in number. Their ground-color is of a pale green or a greenish- 

 white, marked over the entire egg with a fox-ciiiored or rusty brown. Occa- 

 sionally these markings are sparsely scattered, j)ermitting the ground to be 

 plainly visible, but generally they are so very abundant as to cover the entire 

 egg so closely as to conceal all otlier shade, and give to the wliole a deep 

 uniform rufous-brown hue, tlirough wliich the under color of light green is 

 hardly distinguishable. They nieasure .90 by .08 of an inch. 



Zonotrichia querula, (Iambel. 



HARRIS'S SPABROW; BLACK-HOODED SPABBOW. 



FringiUa qt'ernla, Xutfall, Man. I, (2de(l.,) 1840, 555 (Wostport, Mo.). Zonotrichia 

 (jneruhi, Gambel, J. A. N. Sc. 2(1 Ser. I, 1S47, 51. — Bonap. C'onsp. 1850, 478. — 

 Baiud, Birds X. Am. 1858, 462.^ — Allen, Aiiier. -Xaturalist, May, 1872. FringiUa 

 Imi-ri.si, Aii». Birds Am. VH, 1843, 331, pi. ncclxxxiv. FrinffiUn comafa, Vn. Max. 

 Ilt'ise n, 1841. — Ib. Cab.. lour. VI, 1858, 279. Zonotrichia comata, Bp. C'onsp. 1850, 

 479. 



Sp. Char. Hood and nape, sides of head anterior tc and ineliidinir the eyes, chin, 

 throat, and a few spots in the middle of the np]>er ]>art of the breast and on its sides, 

 black. Sides of head and neck ash-urray, with the trace of a narrow (nascent back of the 

 ear-covertvS. Interscapnlar region of back with the feathers reddish-brown streaked with 

 dark brown. Breast and belly clear white. Sides of body lif^ht brownish, streaked. 

 Two narrow white bands across the greater and middle coverts. Length about 7 inches; 

 wing, 3.40; tail, 3.G5. 



Hab. Missonri River, above Fort Leavenworth. ChilliT-othe, Mo. (Hoy). Very com- 

 mon in Eastern Kansas (Allen). San Antonio, Texas, spring (Dresser, Ibis, 1865, -488). 



The bill of this species appears to be yellowish-red. More immature 

 specimens vary in having tlie black of the head abo\e more restricted, the 

 nape and sides of the head to the bill pale reddish-browu, lighter on the latter 

 region. Others have the feathers of the anterior portion of the hood edged 

 with whitish. In all there is genemlly a trace of black anterior to the eye. 



73 



