474 NORTH A^rERTCAX BIRDS. 



feet from the grouiicl. Tlian the uest of our GoUlfinch we have no more beau- 

 tiful specimen either of the basket in sliape or the felted in structure. Sym- 

 metrical in form, delicately iind bciuitil'uUy woven, and ingeniously anj firmly 

 fastened around the forked twigs with wliich it is interlaced, it is an exqui- 

 site example of architectural beauty and finish. A beautiful .specimen from 

 Wi.sconsin may be taken as ty])ical. It measures three inches in diameter 

 and two in lieight. Tiie cavity is one and a lialf inches wide at the rim, and 

 tlie deptli is tlie same. Tlie lia.se of this nest is a connningling of soft vege- 

 table wool, very fine stems of dried gras.ses, and fine strips of bark, all being 

 in very fine shreds. The sides, rim, and general exterior of the nest is made 

 up, to a largo extent, of fine sleiuler vegetalile fibres, interwrought with 

 winte and maroon-colored vegetable wool. These materials are closely and 

 densely felted together. The inner nest is softly and thorougldy lined with 

 a softer felting niade of tlie plumose appendages or pappus of the seeds of 

 composite plants. 



The eggs, usually five, rarely six in number, are of a uniform bluish-white, 

 sharply pointed at one and roimded at tlie other end. They measure from 

 .65 to .67 of an inch in length and from .50 to .55 in breadth. Dr. Cooper 

 gives their measurement as .00 by .50 ; but of tlie contents of seven nests 

 before me not an egg is less than .Go in length, and but one so small as .50 

 in breadth. 



A nest of this Finch, built in a young elm-tree in Hingham, eight feet from 

 the ground, was begun July 27, finished and the first egg laid August 1. By 

 the 4tli five eggs had been deposited, and on the 16th they had all been 

 hatched. 



Chrysomitris psaltria, var. psaltria, Boxap. 



BOCKT M OUKTAIK GOIDFINCH ; ABKANSA8 GOLDFINCH. 



Frinriilla pmUriii, Say, Long's Exped. K. Mts. II, 1823, 40. — Aud. Oiii. Riog. V, 1839, 

 85, pi. cco.xciv. Friiiijilla {Cdrdiieli.i) jtsdilria, Bon. Am. Orn. I, 1825, 54, pi. vi, f. 3. 

 Carduelispsnltrui, Aun. Syii. 1839, 117. — In. Binls Am. Ill, 1841, 134, pi. clxxxiii. 

 Chrysomitris psdllria, Br. list, 1838. — In. f'on.sp. 1850, 51(5. — OAMnia,, .Tour. A. N. 

 S. 2il scries 1, 1847, 52 (female). — Baiku, Birds N. Am. 1858, 422. — Uoopeu, Orn. 

 Cal. I, 168. 



Sp. Char. Male. Tipper pnrt.<! and sides of head and neck olive-fjroen. Hood, but 

 not side.s ol" head below eyes, lores (or aurieulars?), upjjer tail-covert.s, winps, and tail black. 

 Beneath liriglit yellow. A band across the tips of the greater coverts, the ends of nearly 

 all the ((nills, the onter edees of the tertiaries, the extreme liases of all the primaries ex- 

 cept the outer two, and a long rectanffular patch on the imier webs of the outer thi'ce 

 tail-feathers near the middle, white. Female with the upper parts {generally, and the sifles 

 olive-jfreen ; the winars and tail brown, their white marks as in the male. Length, 4.25 ; 

 wing, 2.40 ; tail, I.S."). Yointcj llkt,' the female, In i wing-bands more fulvous. 



Had. Southern Rocky Mountains to the coast of California; north to Salt Lake City 

 (.Tune 10; Rinr.wAv), and Siskiyou Co., Cal. (Vuii.i.k) ; south to Souora (Arispe, Feb. 

 2G ; E. S. Wakkkiki.d). 



