FlUXr.ILUD.E— THE FINCIIl'X 



53 



Fort Aiulorsoii. Afterwaitls lie ol»servi'(l several ntlier nests on the j^touikI, 

 all of which were similar to tlie last, and it is by no means inipossilyle 

 that in ei-rtain instances these birds may have occu])ie(l old nests of the 

 T. ah'ria, and used them for ])ur})Oses of incubation. Richardson states that 

 its nests are constructed in a low bush, and are made of dry grass, hair, and 

 feathers. He states that the eggs are five in number, of a pale mountain- 

 green tint, and marbled with irregular spots of brown. 



^Ir. Audul)on, who found several of the nests of this bird in T^'ibrador, 

 near the coast, describes them as large for the size of the bird, and as usually 

 placed on the ground among moss or tall grass near the stem of a creeping 

 fir, the bi-anches of which usually conceal it from view. Its exterior is 

 loosely formed of dry grasses and moss, with a carefully disj)osed inner layer 

 of fine grasses, circularly arranged. The lining consists of very delic-ate 

 fibrous roots, with feathers of ditlerent kinds of water-fowl. In one instance 

 he noted the down of the eider-duck. He found their eggs from the middle 

 of June to the 5th of July. When their nest was approached, the female 

 affected lameness, and employed all the usual arts to decoy the intruder 

 away. They raised but one brood in a season, and about the first of Septem- 

 ber left Labrador for the south in small flocks, made up of members of one 

 family. 



Their eggs measure from .92 to an inch in length, and .70 in breadth. 

 They are oblong in shape. Their ground-color is a light bluish-wiiite, 

 thickly spotted with a rusty-brown, often so fully as to conceal the 

 ground. 



Fasserella townsendi, Xuttall. 



TCyWHSEKD'fe BPABBOW. 



t Embcriza unnhischkcnsis, Gmel. II, 1788, 875 (b<ased on AonalaschJca Bunting, Lath. II, 

 202, 48; Vnalaschka B., Pennant, 52). PnsscrcUa v. Finsch, Abb. Nat. Ill, 1872, 

 53 (Alaska^ Fn'mjilfa toiniscndi, AUD. Om. Hiog. V, 1839, 23t), pi. cci-cxxiv, f. 7. — 

 Ib. Syn. 1839. — In. Birds Am. Ill, 1841, 43, pi. dxxxvii. Fringilla {Pusacrdla) 

 toirnsciHli, Nutt. Man. I, (2<l od.,) 1840, 533. PasscrcUa townsendi, B<>N. Conspectus, 

 1850, 477. — Baicd, Birds X. Am. 1858, 489. —Cooper & Suckley, 204. — Dall 

 & Bannisteh, Tr. Cli. Ac. I, 1869, 285. Friitgilla mcruhideji, Vic;. Zoul. Blossom 

 (Monterey, Cal.), 1839, 19. ? Emhcriza {Zonotrichia) rnfina, Kini.iTZ, Denkw. 1858, 

 200. (He compares it xnth P. iliaca, but says it is darker. Sitka.) 



Sp. Char. Above very dark olive-brown, witli a tiiiiro of riituus, the color continuous 

 and uniform throuirhout, without any trace of blotches or spots; the uj)j>er tail-coverts 

 and outer edges of the wing and tail feathers rather lighter and brighter. The under parts 

 white, but thickly covered with approximating triangular blotches colored like the back, 

 sparsest on the middle of the body and on the throat; the spots on the belly smaller. 

 Side almost continuously like the back; tibiie and under tail-coverts similar, the latter 

 edged with paler. Axillars brown; paler on edges. Claws all very large and long; the 

 hinder claw longer than its toe. First and sixth quills about equal. Length, about 7 

 inches; wing, about 3.00. >. 



