00 



NOirni AMERICAN IJIUDS. 



first iiial(3 liiid of tliis si)ecies that notices it is sure to make an attack upon 

 it, and is at once trapped. So i>ertinacious are tliey that even when thus 

 inii)risoned the captive repeats its attack upon its supposed rival. They 

 feed almost immeiliately upon bein;^' caught, and usually thrive in contine- 

 ment, Audul>on mentioning one that had been caged for ten years. 



This bird is very easily made to breed in confinement. Dr. Bachman has 

 had a single pair thus raise three broods in a season. 



The eggs of this species measure .8(1 by .65 of an inch, and do not at all 

 resemble tht* eggs of the cyanca or amana. They have a dull or pearly- 

 white ground, and are very characteristically marked with blotches and dots 

 of purplish and reddish brown. 



Genus SPERMOPHILA, Swaixson. 



Spcrmnjihihi, Swainsox, Zoiil. Jour. Ill, Nov. 1827, 348. {Tyjte, Pijrrhiila fnlcirostris, 



Tkmm. Suiliciontly distinct from Spcnnophiliis, F. Cuv. 1822.) 

 Slh)rophila, Cabani^;, Mus. Heiu. 1851, 148. (Type, Frimjilla hypoleuca. Light.) 



Gen. CiiAii. Bill very short and very much curved, as in Pijrrhida, ahno.<;t as deep as 



long ; the commissure concave, abruptly bent 

 towards the end. Tarsus about equal to middle 

 toe ; inner toe rather the longer (?), reaching about 

 to the base of tlie middle one ; hind toe to the 

 middle of this claw. Wings short, reaching over 

 the posterior third of the exposed part of the tail; 

 the tertiaries graduallv longer than the secondaries, 

 neither much shorter than the primaries, which are 

 graduated, and but little difierent in length, the 

 first shorter than the sixth, the second and fourth 

 equal. The tail is about as long as the wing.s, 

 rounded, all the feathers slightly graduated, rather 



Spermophila moreleti. 



sharply acuminate and decidedly mucronate. Smallest of American passerine birds. 



The essential characters of this genus are the small, very convex bill, as 

 high as long ; the short broad wings, with the quills differing little in length, 

 the outer ones graduated ; the tail as long as the wings, widened towards the 

 end, and slightly graduated, with the acuminate and mucronate tip to the 

 feathers. 



Many species of the genus occur in Middle and South America, although 

 none not readily distinguishable from the single North American one. 



