00 



NOIiTll AMERICAN JJIUDS. 



first iiialu bird of tliis si)ecies tliat notices it is sure to make an attack upon 

 it, and is at once ti'apijcd. So pertinacious are tliey that even when thus 

 ini])riHoned tlie cai)tive repeats its attack upon its supposed rival. They 

 feed almost innnediately upon bein^f caught, and usually thrive in confine- 

 ment, Audubon mentioning one that had been caged for ten years. 



This bird is very easily made to breed in confinement. Dr. Bachman has 

 had a single pair thus raise three broods in a season. 



The eggs of this species measure .80 by .65 of an inch, and do not at all 

 resemble tlu; eggs of the cyanca or umaina. They have a duU or pearly- 

 white ground, and are very characteristically marked with blotches and dots 

 of purj>lish and reddish brown. 



Ge.nus SPERMOFHILA, Swainson. 



Spmiinphihi, .SwAix.s()N-, Zoiil. .loui-. Ill, Nov. 1827, 348. (iy\\e, Pyrrhula fakirostris, 



Tkm.m. Siiflicieiitly distiiiet from Spcniwphilnti, F. Cuv. 1822.) 

 Hpiimphihi, C'AiiANl;*, Mus. Ht'iii. 1851, 148. (Type, Fringilla hypoleuea. Light.) 



Gkn. Chau. Bill veiy short and very much curved, as in Pijrrhula, almost as deep as 



long ; the commissure concave, abruptly bent 

 towards the end. Tarsus about equal to middle 

 toe ; inner toe rather the longer (?), reaching about 

 to the liase of the middle one ; hind toe to the 

 middle of this claw. Wings short, reaching over 

 the posterior third of the exposed part of the tail; 

 the tertiaries gradually longer than the secondaries, 

 neither nuich shorter than tlie primaries, which are 

 graduated, and but little difl'erent in length, the 

 first shorter than the si.xtli, the second and fourth 

 equal. The tail is about as long as the wings, 

 rounded, all the feathers slightly graduated, rather 

 acuminate and decidedly niucronate. Smallest of American passerine birds. 



Spermnpliila munliti. 



sharply 



The essential characters of this genus are the small, very convex bill, as 

 high as long ; the short broad wings, with the quills differing little in length, 

 tile outer ones graduated; the tail as long as the wings, M'idened towards the 

 end, and slightly graduated, with the acuminate and niucronate tij) to the 

 feathers. 



Many species of the genus occur in Middle and South America, although 

 none not readily distinguishable from the single North American one. 



