CHRTSOTIS. 589 



7. Chrysotis finschi. 



Chrysotis viridigenalis, Scl. P. Z. S. 1857, p. 230 (nee Cassin) \ 



Chrysotis finschi, Sel. P. Z. S. 1864, p. 398'; 1874, p. 306, t. 84'; Salv. Ibis, 1871, p. 97*; 



Lawr. Ibis, 1871, p. 250'; Mem. Bost. Soc. N. H. ii. p. 396"; BuU. U. S. Nat. Mus. 



no, 4, p. 37 ^ Sumiehrast, La Nat. v. p. 338'; Salv. & Godm. Ibis, 1889, p. 242'; 



Salvad. Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xx. p. 298". 

 Amazona finschi, Jouy, Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. xvi. p. 786". 



Yiridis, STibtus pallidior, cervicis posticse plumis (late), dorsi (striete) et corporis totius subtus nigro terminatis, 

 plumulis ciroum oculos nigris, pileo et nucha caeruleis, hujus plumis striete nigro terminatis. loris et fronte 

 saturate coccineis, genis et regione auriculari laefce viridibus immaculatis ; speculo alari ooccineo ; alis 

 cyaneo-nigris, ad basin viridibus, subtus oleagineo-viridibus, remigibus nigro terminatis, tectricibus pallide 

 viridibus ; oauda viridi, tectricibus lateralibus ad apicem lutescentibus ; rostro flavicante ; pedibus cameis. 

 Long, tota circa 13-0, alse 8-0, eaudfe 4-8, rostri culminis 1*6, tarsi 0-75. (Descr. maris ex Mazatlan, 

 Mexico. Mus. nostr.) 



$ mari similis. 



Hah. Mexico ^ ^, Choix, Culebra in Sinaloa [W. Lloyd), Mazatlan [Grayson^, Forrer), 

 Presidio de Mazatlan {Forrer), San Bias in Tepic ( W. B. Bichardson), Eio de la 

 Ameria {Xantus^), Beltran in Jalisco {W. Lloyd, Jouy^^), Putla (BSbouch^), 

 Ventosa, Zanatepec, Tehuantepec '^ (Sumiehrast ^). 



This distinct Chrysotis is characteristic of Western Mexico, and according to 

 Grayson^ inhabits the tierra caliente between the mountains and the Pacific from 

 Southern Sonora to Tehuantepec, being especially abundant near Mazatlan. He goes 

 on to say that the forests in some localities, particularly when certain fruits are in 

 season, appear at times to be alive with them, but only in the morning and evening 

 when they are seeking their favourite food ; they then fly hither and thither through 

 the woods, perching and climbing amongst the branches of the trees which bear the 

 fruit, keeping up at the same time an incessant din, which, with the loud and harsh 

 screams of the large green Macaws, produces a very discordant and disagreeable forest 

 music. They often visit the cornfields or milpas in great numbers about the time the 

 green corn or maize commences to mature, committing great depredations, and even 

 destroying small milpas unless watched. 



Young birds if taken from the nest when unfledged may be taught to pronounce 

 some words very distinctly and to whistle tunes. The season of incubation begins in 

 the latter part of March or early in April, at which time birds quietly divide off into 

 pairs and seek a hollow in some large tree, where they deposit their eggs on the bare 

 rotten wood, which is smoothed a little by the birds, both parents taking equal parts 

 in the task of incubation. The eggs, two in number, are clear white, and the young 

 are fed by the old birds some time after they can fly. The pair from the same nest 

 generally remain together through life *. By an extraordinary provision of nature, it 



* This is hardly likely to be the case ; but it is much more probable that birds once paired remain together 

 for life, and it is these pairs that make up the constituents of a flock. 



