PTEEHULOXIA.— GUIEACA. 343 



1. Pyrrhuloxia sinuata. 



Cardinalis sinuatus, Bp. P. Z. S. 1837, p. Ill ^ ; Consp. Av. i. p. 500 ^ 



Pyrrhuloxia sinuata, Baird, Mex. Bound. Surv. ii.. Birds, p. 17'; Dresser, Ibis, 1865 p. 491*- 

 Dugfes, La Nat. i. p. 139" ; Baird, Brew., & Ridgw. N. Am. B. ii. p. 95 «; Lawr. Mem! 

 Bost. Soc. N. H. ii. p. 375 ' ; Sennett, Bull. U. S. Geol. Surv. iv. p. 21 ' ; v, p. 393 ' ; Bel- 

 ding, Pr. U, S, Nat. Mus. vi. p. 343 " ; Coues, Key N. Am. B. p. 398 ", ' 



Cinerea, subtus dilutior,alis et cauda fusco-nigris, iffis extuB coccineo marginatis, crista oceipitali elongata fasca 

 ad basin coccinea ; loris, gutture. abdomine medio et subalaribus rosaceo-coocineis, rostro paUide comeo, 

 pedibus cameis. Long, tota 8-5, alse 3-8, caudse 4-1, rostri a rietu 0-5, tarsi 1-0. (Descr. maris ex El 

 Paso, Smiths. Inst. 6368. Mus. nostr.) 

 2 mari similis, alis extus et subalaribus tantum eoccineis. (Descr. feminse ex Eagle Pass Texas. Mus. 

 nostr.) 



ffab. North Amekica, valley of Eio Grande 3 e u^ Texas * ^ 9^ Lower California ^ ". 



Mexico, western parts \ Nuevo Leon (Couch % Guaymas {JBeUing lO), Mazatlan 

 {Grayson''), Zacatecas^, Guanajuato {Dugh^). 



This curious bird was first described by Bonaparte from a specimen from Zacatecas 

 in Mexico ; and though it is now known chiefly from the Eio Grande valley and across the 

 continent to the Gulf of California, and also in Lower California, it has also been obtained 

 at Mazatlan and elsewhere ; so that its claims as a Mexican bird cannot be questioned. 

 Mr. Dresser, who met with it during his travels in Texas, looked upon it as a straggler 

 from Mexico, as he found it abundant at Eagle Pass on the frontier, but a few miles 

 north it failed to appear. He speaks of it as a shy bird, and when followed it perches 

 on the top of some high bush, erecting its long crest ; at other times it would take to 

 the thick underwood, where it was impossible to shoot it ^. Mr. Sennett makes similar 

 observations on its habits ^. The last-named traveller discovered its nest and eggs at 

 Lomita in Texas. This nest was placed about five feet from the ground, and was com- 

 pactly built of dried inner bark, grasses, and pliant twigs, with a few rootlets for lining. 

 The eggs somewhat resemble in shape those of Cardmalis virginianus, but are more 

 round, and are irregularly covered with spots of various shades of brown and lavender, 

 which are massed together at the larger end, sometimes forming a band, but more 

 frequently covering the entire end ^. The ground-colour is dull chalky white ^. 



Grayson's specimens were shot at Mazatlan in February and April, but he says the 

 bird was not common ^. 



GUIKACA. 



Guiraca, Swainson, Zool. Journ. iii. p. 350 (1827) ; Coues, Key N. Am. B. ed. 2, p. 390. 

 Cyanocompsa, Cabanis, J. f. Om. 1861, p. 4. 



The type of this genus is the well-known Loxia ccerulea of Linnaeus, and with it have 

 been associated several other species from Mexico, Central and South America, all 

 <;losely related to one another, but somewhat aberrant from the type, and separated by 



