FBINGILLIB^: FINCHES, BUNTINGS, SPABBOWS, ETC. 393 



nest in bushes and shrubbery, large, domed, with lateral entrance; eggs 3-6, 0.65X0.50, 

 white, speckled with reddish. 



94, PYRRHULO'XIA. (Lat. pyrrhula + loxia; pyrrhula, a bullfinch ; looda, a cross-bill. Gr. 

 inipp6s, purhros, red ; Xo|i'a;, hxias, crooked.) Bullfinch Cardinals. BUI very short apd 

 stout, hooked almost like a parrot's : its depth at base exceeding its length ; under mandible 

 deeper than upper at nostrils ; culmen curved almost to the quadrant of a circle ; commissure 

 forcibly angulated in advance of nostrils ; gonys about straight. Otherwise generally like 

 Cardmalis. Colors grayish and red ; head crested. One large species. 



398. P. sinua'ta. (Lat. sinuata, bent, bowed, curved ; sinus, a bend, bay : alluding to the bill.) 

 Bullfinch Cardinal. Texas Cardinal. Conspicuously crested, and otherwise like the 

 common cardinal in form, but the bill extremely short and crooked. $: Ashy-brown, paler 

 or whitish below ; the crest, face, throat, breast, and middle line of belly, with the wings and 

 tail, more or less perfectly crimson or carmine red; bill whitish. Length 8.00-8.50; extent 

 11.00-12.00; wing 3.50-4.00; tail 3.75-4.25. ? similar to the ^, more so than 9 Cardinalis: 

 red of crest, wings, and tail much the same ; rather brownish-yeUow below, usually with traces 

 of red on the breast and belly, sometimes without. Young J like the ? . At an early age, 

 both sexes have the bill obscured. In this species the crest is long, but thin, consisting of a 

 few coronal feathers, without general elongation of the head-plumage. The shade of red is very 

 variable in equally adult males. In highest feather it is continuous on the under parts from 

 bill to tail along the median line; but it is often broken into patches on throat, beUy, and 

 crissum. The tint is always carmine, not vermilion as usual in the common cardinal. The 

 intense rose-color is well displayed on spreading the wings. A singular bird, inhabiting the 

 U. S. near the Mexican border, from Texas to Lower California ; abundant in the valley of 

 the Lower Rio Grande. The habits, nest, and eggs are substantially the same as those of tlie 

 common cardinal. 

 95. CARDINA'tlS. (Lat. cardmalis, pertaining to cardo, 

 a door-hinge; cardinal, that upon which something 

 hinges or depends ; hence important, principal, cardmal 

 point ; cardinal, a chief ecclesiastical oflScial, wearing 

 the red hat ; hence cardinal-red, from which color the 

 bird is named. Pig. 254.) Cardinal Grosbeaks. 

 BUI very large and stout, but quite conic ; culmen a little 

 convex ; gonys about straight ; commissure sinuate, not 

 abruptly angulated ; lower mandible about as deep as 

 upper ; rictus bristled. Wings vei-y short and rounded ; 

 usually 4th and 5th quills longest, others rapidly grad- 

 uated both ways, — 5th to 1st, 5th to 9th. Tail longer 

 than wings, rounded, of broad feathers with obliquely piQ. 251 -Head of Cardinll Grosbeak, 

 oval tips. Tarsus longer than middle toe and claw; nat. size. (Adnat. del. E. C.) 

 lateral toes subequal. Size large. Head crested. Color mostly red, including bUl. Sexes 

 subsimUar. , 



299. C. virginia'iius. (Of Virginia ; name inappropriate to Queen Elizabeth. Figs. 254, 255.) 

 Cardinal Grosbeak. Cardinal Red-bird. Virginia Nightingale. (J, adult: Rich 

 red, usually vermilion, sometimes rosy ; pure and intense on crest and under parts, darker on 

 back, where obscured with ashy-gray, as it is also on upper surfaces of wings and tail ; the 

 feathers of the wings fuscous on inner webs. A jet-black mask on the face, entirely surround- 

 ing the bill, extending on the throat. Bill coral-red; feet brown. Length 8.00-9.00; extent 

 11.00-12.00 ; wing 3.50-4.00 ; taU 4.25-4.75 ; biU 0.67-0.75 ; tarsus 0.90-1.00. 9 rather less : 

 Ashy-brovTU, paler and somewhat yellowish-brown below, with traces of red ; reddening much 

 as in the ^ on crest, wings, and taU. Young ^ : At iirst like 9 > tut soon reddening ; at an 



