FniNaiLLID.E — THE FINCHES. 



13 



Iloss and J. Lockh it, nnd in the Picd Ilivor settlements by Mr. C. A. Ilub- 

 Ijard and >rr. hnndld (runn 



Ca]>tain J'.lakiston noted the arrival of tliis bird at Fort Carlton on the 

 21st of May. He speaks of its note as very peculiar, resem])lin«<, though 

 sharper than, the Imzzinj,' made by a Hy in a }>a}'er box, or a faint imitation 

 of tlie sound of a watcliman's rattle. This son": it utters perched on some 

 vouni; tree or bush, sometimes only once, at others Mnee or four times in 

 quick succession. 



Their nests appear to have been in all instances placed in trees or in 

 shrubs, generally in small spruces, two or three feet from the ground. Tn 

 one instance it was in a clump of small Imshes not more than six inches 

 from the ground, and only a few rods from the buildings of Fort Kesolution. 



Both this species and the >S'. hrweri were found by Lieutenant Couch at 

 Tamauli2)as in March, 1855. It does not appear to have been met with by 

 any other of the exph^ring expeditions, but in 18(34, for the first time, as Dr. 

 Heermann states, to his knowledge, these birds were found quite plentiful 

 near San Antonio, Texas, by Mr. Dresser. This was in April, in the fields 

 near that town. They were associating with the Mchspiza linrolni and 

 other Sparrows. They remained about San Antonio until the middle of 

 May, after which none were observed. 



The eggs of this species are of a light blue, with a slight tinge of greenish, 

 and are marked around the larger end with spots and blotches of a purplish- 

 brown, rather finer, perhaps, than in the eg^ of S. socialis, though very similar 

 to it. They average .70 of an inch in length, and vary in breadth from 

 .50 to .52 of an inch. 



Spiaella pallida, var. breweri, Cassin. 



BBEWEB'S 8PABB0W. 



Emherizn pallida, Aud. Oni. Biog. V, 1839, QQ, pi. cccxcviii, f. 2. — Ib. Synopsis, 1839. 

 — Ib. Birds Am. HI, 1841, 71, pi. clxi (not of Swainson, 1831). Spizdbi hrcweri, 

 Cassin, Pr. A. N. Sc. VIH, Feb. 1856, 40. -Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 475.— 

 Cooper, Oru. Cal. I, 209. 



Sp. Char. Similar to S. pallida ; the marking's including the nuchal collar more 

 obsolete: no di.«?tinct median and superciliary light stripes. The crown streaked with 

 black. Some of the feathers on the sides with brown ishaft^. Length, o inches ; wing, 

 2.50. Young streaked beneath, as in pallida. 



Hab. Rocky Mountains of United States to the Pacific coast 



This race is very similar to the >S^. pallida, and requires close and critical 

 comparison to separate it. Tlie streaks on the back are narrower, and the 

 central ashy and lateml whitish stripes of the crown are scarcely, if at all, 

 appreciable. The clear unstreaked ash of the back of the neck, too, is 

 mostly wanting. The feathers along the sides of the body, near the tibia, 



