132 THE CHICAGO ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



Popular synonyms : SUMMER YELLOW-BIRD. LETTUCE-BIRD. THISTLE- 

 BIRD. BLACK-WINGED AND BLACK-CAPPED YELLOW-BIRD. 



The American Goldfinch is a very common resident of our 

 area. In the winter the plumage of the male is changed to more 

 somber colors, resembling those of the female. "The yellow is 

 replaced by a yellowish brown ; the black of the crown wanting, 

 that of the wings and tail browner. The throat is generally 

 yellowish ; the under parts ashy brown passing behind into white." 



The range of this species covers the whole of temperate North 

 America, and it breeds nearly throughout its geographical range. 



Genus SPINUS Koch, 1816. 



Spinus pinus (Wilson). Pine Siskin. 



Fringilla pinus WILSON, Amer. Orn., II, 1810, 133, pi. 17, fig. 1. 

 Chrysomitris pinus BONAPARTE, Geog. and Comp. List, 1838, 33. 

 Spinus pinus STEJNEGER, Auk, I, 1884, 362. 

 Popular synonyms: PINE FINCH. PINE LINNET. PINE GOLDFINCH. 



The Pine Siskin is a winter migrant and an irregular winter 

 resident within our limits. It often associates with Astragalinus 

 tristis. It arrives early in October and departs late in May. 

 It may rarely frequent this region during the summer, for Dr. 

 Jordan has taken a specimen near Indianapolis, Indiana, in mid- 

 summer, and, according to Mr. Amos W. Butler, "one was ob- 

 served at Wabash, Indiana, with goldfinches, several times be- 

 tween June 10 and 20, 1892." Mr. E. W. Nelson says:* "A 

 common winter resident associating with the preceding." 



The range of the Pine Siskin covers North America in gen- 

 eral, breeding in British America, in the high mountain regions 

 of the western United States and Mexico and also, though spar- 

 ingly, in the higher regions of the northeastern United States. 

 It winters irregularly throughout the greater portion of the 

 United States. 



Genus PASSERINA Vieillot, 1816. 



Passerina nivalis (Linnaeus). Snowflake. 



Emberiza nivalis LINN^US, S. N., ed. 10, I, 1758, 176. 

 Passerina nivalis VIEILLOT, Fauna Franc., 1820, 86. 

 Plectrophenax nivalis STEJNEGER, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., V, 1882, 33. 

 Popular synonyms: WHITE SNOWBIRD. SNOW BUNTING. 



The Snowflake is an irregular winter visitant, and may be 

 looked for from early in November until the middle of the fol- 



*Birds of Northeastern Illinois, Bull, of the Essex Institute, Vol. VIII, 1876, 105. 



