FBINGILIilDiE — THE FINCHES. 



285 



continent it occurs chiefly in winter, though occasional summer 

 specimens from very high latitudes appear to be scarcely smaller 

 than Greenland samples. 



Mr. H. K. Coale has taken this bird near Chicago, and has kindly 

 sent me for examination the specimens which he secured. 



Genus SPINUS Koch. 



Spimis Koch, Bayr. Zool. 1816, 233. Type, Fringilla spinus Lnw. 



Chrysomitris BoiE. Isis, 1828. 322 (same type). 



"Gen. Chab. Bill rather acutely conic, the tip notvery sharp; the eulmen slightly con- 

 vex at the tip ; the commissure gently curved. Nostrils concealed. Obsolete ridges on 

 the upper mandible. Tarsi shorter than the middle toe; outer toe rather the longer, 

 reaching to the base of the middle one. Claw of hind toe shorter than the digital portion. 

 Wings and tail as in ^giothus. 



"The colors are generally yellow, with black on the crown, tliroat, back, wings and 

 tall, varied sometimes with white, 



"The females want the bright markings of the male." 



"This genus differs from jEgiothus [=Acanthis] in a less acute and 

 more curved bill, a much less development of the bristly feathers at 

 the base of the bill, the claw of the hiud toe shorter than its digital 

 portion, the claws shorter and less curved and attenuated, and the 

 outer lateral toes not extending beyond the base of the middle 

 claw." — {Hist. N. Am. B.) 



The species occurring in the eastern United States (one of them 

 probably as a purely accidental straggler) are the following: 



A. Inner webs of tail feathers with a white patch. 



1. S.tristis. Adult male, in summer: Rich lemon yellow, with black forehead, 

 wings, and tail; tail-coverts, band across wing, and outer wing-markings, white. 

 Adult female: Wings and tail as in the male, but duller; upper parts olive, tinged 

 with lemon-yellow; lower parts pale yellowish, or sometimes grayish white, 

 tinged with yeUow anteriorly; no black on head. Adult male in winter: Similar 

 to summer female, but more brownish. 



B. Inner webs of tail feathers without white patch, but with yellow bases. 



2. S. pinus, ^duZf (sexes alike): Above grayish or brownish, below dull white, every- 

 where streaked with dusky ; bases of secondaries and tail-feathers sulphur-yellow. 

 Young: Similar, but with a fulvous suffusion, especially on tips of wing-coverts; 

 yellow of remiges and rectrices usually more exposed. 



3. 8. notatus. Adult male: Entire head, neck, and jugulum, with wings and tail, 

 black; a patch of rich yellow on bases of remiges and rectrices; upper parts 

 greenish olive-yellow, clouded with dusky on the back; beneath rich oil- yellow. 

 Adult female: Head and neck olive above and yellow beneath, like the body; 

 wings and tail less intensely black than the male. 



