FRLNGILLID^ — THE FINCUES. |3 



Ross and J. Lockhiirt, and in the Red River settlements by Mr. 0. A. Ilub- 

 banl and >fr. i)nnM.ld (Uinn. 



Cajitain IJlakiHtun noted the arrival of this bird at Fort Carlton on the 

 21st oi' May. He speaks of it.s note as very peculiar, resemblinjf, tliovi^li 

 sliarper than, the l)uzzinj,' made by a Hy in a pajier biix, or a faint imitation 

 of tiie sound of a watcliman's rattle. This son^- it utters perched on .some 

 young tree or bush, sonu'times only once, at otliers three or four times in 

 quick suecession. 



Tlieir nests appear to have been in all instances placed in trees or in 

 shrub,5, generally in small spruces, two or three feet from the ground. Tu 

 one instance it was in a clump of small bushes not more than six inches 

 from the ground, and only a few rods from the buildings of Fort Resolution. 



Both this species and the >S'. hrcuvri were found by Lieutenant Couch at 

 Tamaulipas in ^larch, ISyH. It does not ii])pear to liave been met with by 

 any otiier of tlie exploring expeditions, but in 1804, ibr the first time, as Dr. 

 Heermann states, to his knowledge, these birds were found quite plentiful 

 near San Antonio, Texas, by j\Ir. Dresser. This was in April, in the fields 

 near that town. They were associating with the Mclospiza lincolni and 

 other SpaiTOws. They remained about San Antonio until the middle of 

 May, after which none were observed. 



The eggs of this species are of a liglit blue, with a slight tinge of greenish, 

 and are marked aroiuid the larger end with spots and blotclies of a purplish- 

 brown, rather finer, perhaps, than in the egg of S. socialis, though very similar 

 to it. They average .70 of an incli in length, and vary in breadth from 

 .50 to .52 of an inch. 



Spizella pallida, var. br'-weri, Cassin. 



BBEWEB'S SPABSOW. 



EmheriM pallida, Aud. Oni. Biog. V, 1839, 66, pi. cccxcviii, f. 2. — la. Synopsis, 1839. 

 — In. Hiril3 Am. Ill, 1841, 71, pi. clxi (not of Swainson, 1831). Spizclln hreu-cri, 

 Cassin, Pr. A. N. So. VIII, Feb. 1856, 40. -Baikd, Birds N. Am. 18.-)8, 475.— 

 Cuoi'ER, Orn. Cal. I, 209. 



Sp. Chab. Similar to »9. pallida ; the markings including the nuchal collar more 

 ob.soletc; no distinct median and superciliary light stripes. The crown .streaked with 

 black. Some of the feathers on the sides with brown shafts. Length, o inches ; wing, 

 2.50. Young streaked beneath, as in pallida. 



Had. Rocky Mountains of United States to the Pacilio coast. 



This race is very similar to the 8. imUida, and requires close and critical 

 comparison to separate it. Tlie streaks on the back are narrower, and the 

 central asliy and lateral whitish stripes of the crown are scarcely, if at all, 

 appreciable. The clear unstreaked asli of the back of the neck, too, is 

 mostly wanting. The feathers along the sides of the body, near the tibia, 



