150. 



FI1ING1LLID.^E, FINCHES, ETC. GEN. 82, 83. 



>- 



hi 



bars. Plains to tlio Pacific, replacing" cyanea; common. NuTT.,i, 478; 



AuD., iii, 100, pi. 171; Bd., 501; Coop., 233 abicena. 



Indigo bird. Adult ^J indigo-l)lue, intense and constant on the head, 

 glancing greenish with different liglits on other parts ; wings and tail black- 

 ish glossed with greenish-blue ; feathers around base of bill black : bill dark 

 above, rather paler below, with a curious black stripe along the gonys. $ 

 above jilain warm brown, l)olo\v whitey-brown, obsoletely streaky on the 

 l)reast and sides, wing coverts and inner quills pale-edged, but not whitish; 

 upper mandible Ijlackish, lower pale, with the black stripe just mentioned — 

 this is a pretty' constant feature, and will distinguish the species from any of 

 our little brown birds. Young g is like the 9 , but soon shows blue traces, 

 and afterward is blue with white varieijation below. Size of the foregoinof. 

 Eiistern United States, abundant, in fields and open woodland, in summer ; 

 a well meaning but rather weak vocalist. Wils., i, 100, pi. 6, f. 5 ; Nutt., 

 i, 173; Auu., iii, 90, pi. 170; Bd., 505 cyanea. 



82. Genus SPERMOPHILA Swainson. 



<^,^'^' Morelei's Finch. Top and sides of head, back of neck, broad band across 

 up[)er part of breast, middle of back, wings and tail, black; chin, upper 

 throat and neck all round, except behind, rump, and 

 remaining under parts, white, the latter tinged with 

 brownish-3'ello\v ; two wing-bands, and concealed leases of 

 all the quills, also white. J olivaceous above, brownish- 

 yellow below, wings and tail somewhat as in the ^ . 

 Length about 4 inches; wing 2; tail less. Mexico to 

 Texas. Bd., 507. /S. alblgnlarls Lawk., Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist., v, 1851, 



124 BIORELETir. 



FiG.fl-t. Moivlct'.-i Fineh. 



:0 



82bis. Genus PHONIPAEA Bonaparte. 



•y.O^ Blach-fuced Finch. ^ dark olive green, paler below, graj-ish-white on 

 the belh' ; head, throat and breast more or less blackish: "wings and tail 

 dusky, unmarked, with olivaceous gloss; upper mandible blackish, lower 

 pale. The $ lacks the black of the ^ , but is otherwise similar. About 

 4 inches long; wing 2; tail If. A "West Indian bird, the occurrence of 

 which, in Florida, I learn from advance sheets of Mr. C. J. Maynard's work 

 on the Birds of Florida, now publishing. (Not in the 

 Key.) BicoLOE. 



83. Genus PYRRHULOXIA Bonaparte. 



jv ^ ''' Texas Cardinal. Conspicuously crested, and other- 

 wise like the common cardinal in form, but the bill 

 extremely short and swollen. g ashj'-brown, paler 

 below; the crest, fice, throat, breast and middle line 

 of the belly, with the wings and tail, more or less per- 

 fectly crimson or carmine red ; bill whitish. 9 similar, F"'- •'■''• Texas Carflinnl. 

 rather brownish-yellow below, with traces of the red on the breast and belly. 



