( 17 ) 



LARK FINCH. 



Fringilla guammaca, Say. 



PLATE CCCXC. Male. 



This beautiful species is another of those of which we owe our first 

 knowledge to Colonel Long's party, who discovered it on their expedi- 

 tion to the Rocky Mountains. To the Prince of Musignano we are 

 indebted for the first figure of it. That naturalist states, in the short 

 account he has given of it, that " it sings sweetly, and often continues 

 its notes while on the wing," and to this I can only add the following 

 statement with which I am favoured by my friend Mr Nuttall : 



" This species, in small flocks, in the spring season, when we saw 

 it, appears rather frequent on the ground, resting on it in silence, or 

 merely uttering a feeble chirp. They do not appear on the central 

 table-land, or on the western plains. We therefore had no opportunity 

 of learning any thing of their habits in the breeding season. I believe 

 they are occasionally seen at no great distance from the upper settle- 

 ments of the Missouri." 



FaiNGiLLA GRAMMACA, Say, Cli. BonwpaHe, Amer. Ornith. vol. i. p. 47, pi. 5, fig. 3. 

 Labk Finch, Nuttall, Manual, vol. ii. p. 480. 



Adult Male. Plate CCCXC. Fig. 1. 



Bill short, stout, conical, compressed toward the end; upper man- 

 dible with the dorsal line very slightly convex, the ridge extending 

 but a short way on the forehead, where it tapers to a point, the sides 

 rounded, the edges direct and overlapping, the tip pointed, the gape- 

 line nearly straight, a little deflected at the base ; lower mandible of 

 the same breadth as the upper, with the angle very short and broad, 

 the dorsal line ascending and straight, the back broad, the sides round- 

 ed, the edges inflected, the tip acute. Nostrils basal, small, roundish, 

 concealed by the feathers. 



Head of moderate size, ovate ; neck short, body full. Feet of mo- 

 derate length and rather slender ; tarsus rather short, compressed, an- 

 teriorly covered with seven scutella, posteriorly with two longitudinal 



VOL. v. B 



