LAZULI FINCH. 189 



As the season advances, the plumage of the adult male gradually 

 changes, but not simultaneously in the different individuals, so that in 

 the spring and autumn we rarely find two that are alike ; some being 

 more or less yellow, having a rudiment of black on the head, &c., accord- 

 ing as the moulting process is more or less advanced. 



A remarkable variety is exhibited in a changing male, which I shot 

 near Philadelphia, in the month of April, and which is therefore con- 

 siderably advanced towards perfect plumage. All the primaries are 

 pure white on the outer web towards the base, thus constituting, in the 

 most obvious manner, that white spot beyond the wing coverts, assigned 

 by Say as a good discriminating mark between this species and the pre- 

 ceding. The fact we have related diminishes the value of this char- 

 acter, which is nevertheless a very good one ; but as many other 

 distinctions are observable, we need not rely exclusively upon it. The 

 deviation we have here mentioned is the more remarkable, as the 

 greater number of species allied to this bird have that spot either white 

 or yellow. 



Since writing the above, I obtained, from one of the large flocks in 

 which these birds congregate in the autumn, several specimens of both 

 sexes, more or less distinguished by the marking above stated as pecu- 

 liar to the variety. 



FBINGILLA AMCENA. 



LAZULI FINCH. 



[Plate VI. Fig. 5.] 

 Emheriza amcena, Sat, in Long's Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, ii., p. 47. 



The genus Emheriza, though very natural, and distinguished by well 

 marked characters, has, notwithstanding these advantages, been often 

 misunderstood ; and authors, without consulting the boundaries assigned 

 to it by themselves, have recorded a copious list of species, whilst in 

 nature its limits are much restricted. We are not therefore surprised, 

 tliat so acute a zoologist as Say should have arranged his bird in that 

 genus, particularly as it is more closely allied to Emheriza than many 

 of those, not only of Wilson, but even of Linn^ and Latham. 



This bird, which we have no hesitation in pronouncing one of the 

 most beautiful of its tribe, would be placed by Vieillot in his genus 

 Passerina, but according to my classification it belongs to the genus 

 Fringilla, and to that American sub-genus lately established in my 

 " Observations on the Nomenclature of Wilson's Ornithology," under 



