344 APPENDIX. 



lower tail-coverts white ; legs and feet blackish horn-color. 

 Irides dark hazel. Length 6| inches. 



The female has the upper parts dark cinereous, slightly waved 

 with blue; the shoulders, primary quills, upper tail-coverts and 

 tail, are rich blue, as in the male ; the greater coverts and in- 

 terior edges of the scapulars and secondaries, whitish ; whole 

 lower parts light bay, the vent and lower tail-coverts white. 

 About half an inch shorter than the male. 



Common on the Columbia river in the spring. It arrives from 

 the south early in April, and about the first week in May com- 

 mences building. The nest is placed in the hollow of a decayed 

 tree, and is very loose and unsubstantial. The eggs, four to five, 

 are light blue, somewhat larger than those of the common blue 

 bird, (S. Wilsonii.) 



A flock of eight or ten of these birds visited the British fort on 

 the Columbia, on a fine day in the winter of 1835. They con- 

 fined themselves chiefly to the fences, occasionally flying to the 

 ground and scratching among the snow for minute insects, the 

 fragments of which were found in the stomachs of several which 

 I killed. After procuring an insect, the male usually returned 

 to the fence again, and warbled for a minute most delightfully. 

 This note, although somewhat like that of our common Wilsonii, 

 is still so different as to be easily recognised. It is equally sweet 

 and clear, but of so little compass, (at this season,) as to be heard 

 only a short distance. In the spring it is louder, but it is at all 

 times much less strong than that of the common species. 



Chestnut-colored Finch. 

 Plectrophanes *o?'nata, (Townsend,) Journal Acad. Nat. 

 Sciences, Vol. 7, part II., p. 189. Audubon's Birds of America, 

 Vol. IV., pi. 394. Male. 



Mandibles pale flesh-color, the upper, black along the ridge, 

 and both black at tip ; upper portion of the head black ; a line of 

 white commences at the nostrils, and passes over the eye, where 

 it is expanded so as to form a large semi-lunated spot, and is con- 

 tinued irregularly back to the nape ; below this and towards the 

 throat are several irregular alternate spots of white and black ; 

 auriculars, and gular region faint rufous ; a broad transverse 

 band of deep bay on the hind part of the neck, comprehending a 

 portion of the back ; upper part of the body light cinereous, with 



