FRINaiLLID.E — THE FINCHES. 33 



Lieutonaiit Conch took this wpccios at Tiuiiiir.lipas, Mexico, and at Tirowns- 

 ville, S()uthwc8l(.'ni To.xas, in JMarch. Jtha.s also lieen seen in Alay, at the 

 Forks of the Saskateliewan, by Captain lUakiston. 



Lincoln's Finch was met with by iMr. liidgway in abundance only durin<,' 

 its siiring and fall niiij;vations. Towards tiie last of April it was (piite 

 connnon in wet bnishy places in the vicinity of Carson City. It was next 

 observed in October among the willows bordering Deep Creek, in Xorlhcrn 

 Utah. In the weedy pastmes in Parley's Park it was a connnon species, 

 frequenting the resorts of the Z. Icncvphriis. A nest, with young, was dis- 

 covered near tlie camp. It was embedded in the ground, beneath a bush. 

 Its song he did not hear, only a single chuck, almost as loud as that of the 

 Passcrcfla schist ace a . 



Dr. Cooper reports this species as near San Diego aliout IMarch 25. Large 

 flocks were then passing northward. Diiring the day they ke])t auKjng the 

 gra.ss, and were rather shy and silent. They seemed to have a good deal of 

 the hal)its of the Panserculus, and to differ much in their gregariousness, their 

 migratory habits, and their /'eneral form, from the otiier j]/c/i)sj)i:a: Dr. 

 Cooper did not meet witli any of tlu^se birds in the Colorado A''alley, nor lias 

 he seen or heard of any iiaving been found in California during the summer. 

 The M. lincolni has been found breeding up to high Arctic latitudes. It was 

 met with l>y Mr. Kennicott at Fort Simp.son and at Fort Resolution. At the 

 latter place its nests were found between the 2d and the 14th of June. 

 They were also ol)tained in Alay, June, and July, at Fort Simpson, by Mr. 

 I). Ik. lio.ss, and at Yukon Kiver, Fort L'ae, Nulato, and other localities in the 

 extreme northern regions, by Messrs. Iieid, Lockhart, Clarke, Kirkl)y, and 

 Dall. On ^It. Lincoln, Colorado, above eight thousand feet, Mr. Allen found 

 this Sparrov,' very numei'ous. 



Tiiis Finch Mas found by Salvin about the reeds on the margin o*" T.oke 

 Dnenas, Guatemala, in Fel>ruary, but was not common. It is conuu , ... 

 the winter montlis, near Oaxaca, Mexico, where it was taken by Mr. Iloucard. 



Mr. Kennicott saw its nest June 14. This was on the groiuid, built in a 

 bunch of grass in ratiier an open and dry place, and containing five egg.s. 

 The female ['"rmitted Iiim to aj)))roach very close to her, until he finally 

 caught her on the nest with his lieating-net. Another nest was placed 

 in a bunch of grass growing in tiie water of a small grassy pond. The 

 nest contained four eggs and one young bird. 



The nest and eggs of this species had been previously discovered by Dr. 

 lloy, near Iiacine. Tiiis is, I believe, the first instance in which it was iden- 

 tified by a natumlist, as also the mo.st southern point at which it has ever 

 l)een found. The.se eggs measure .74 by .00 of an inch. They have a pale 

 greenish-white ground, and are thickly marked with dots and small blotches 

 of a ferruginous-l)rown, often so numerous and confluent as to disguise and 

 partially conceal the ground. 



viii,. 11, 5 



