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BACHMAN'S PINEWOOD-FINCH. 



r Pettcea Bachmanii, Jlud. 

 PLATE CLXXVL— Male. 



In honouring so humble an object as this Finch with the name of Bach- 

 man, my aim is to testify the high regard in which I hold that learned and 

 most estimable individual, to whose friendship I owe more than I can express 

 on this occasion. 



"In the month of April, 1832," says my worthy friend, the gentleman 

 just named, "I discovered near Parker's Ferry, on the Edisto river, in this 

 State, a Fringilla which I had not seen before, and which, on investigation, 

 I found had never been described. On searching for the same bird in the 

 neighbourhood of Charleston, I discovered it breeding in small numbers on 

 the Pine Barrens, about six miles north of this city, where I obtained many 

 specimens of it. 



"This bird appears to be rarer in Carolina than it really is. It is in fact 

 oftener heard than seen. When I first heard its notes, they so nearly re- 

 sembled those of the Towee Bunting, that I took it to be that bird: a some- 

 what greater softness, and a slight variation in the notes, alone induced me 

 to suspect that it was another, and caused me to go in pursuit of it. Since 

 then I have heard as many as five or six in the course of a morning's ride, 

 but found it almost impossible to get even a sight of the bird. This was 

 owing, not to its being particularly wild, but to the habits it possesses of 

 darting from the tall pine-trees, where it usually sits to warble out its melo- 

 dious notes, and concealing itself in the tall broom-grass which is almost 

 invariably found in those places which it frequents. As soon as alighted, it 

 keeps running off in the grass, like a mouse, and it is extremely difficult to 

 put them up, or see them afterwards. 



"It breeds in Carolina, to all appearance on the ground, where it is usually 

 found when not singing. I never saw its nest; but in the month of June 

 last (1833), I observed two pair of these birds, each having four young 

 ones, that were pretty well fledged, and following their parents along the 

 low scrub oaks of the pine lands. 



"This is decidedly the finest songster of the Sparrow Family with which 

 I am acquainted. Its notes are very loud, considering the size of the bird, 



Vol. III. 19 



