FINCH. TJ9 



thighs and tail coverts yellowish white ; wing coverts black, crossed 

 with a white band ; quills black, the lesser edged and tipped with 

 white ; tail black ; legs white. 



The female wants the black on the head ; plumage above olive- 

 green ; throat, breast, and rump, pale yellow ; belly and vent white ; 

 wings and tail as the male. 



The young are at first olive-brown, the yellow breaking out 

 among the feathers by degrees, and the rump and under tail coverts 

 almost white ; also the middle of the belly. In the male bird the 

 head is at first mottled with black, as it does not gain the full 

 plumage till the following spring. 



Inhabits North America, particularly about New York : found as 

 far as 54 deg. of lat. numerous in Carolina, Mexico, Guiana, also at 

 Buenos Ayres: is a summer bird, and feeds on thistles like our 

 Goldfinch ; called the York Yellow Bird, also Thistle, Lettuce, and 

 Sallad Bird : feeds on various other seeds, as hemp, and observed 

 often to hang with the back downwards, as a Titmouse or Siskin : is 

 easily familiarised to confinement. The nest and eggs not mentioned 

 by any author. 



I have been assured by the late Mr. Tunstall, who kept several 

 of them, that both sexes constantly lost their yellow colour in winter, 

 and became pale olive, but recovered their beautiful yellow plumage 

 in spring. 



A.— L'Olivarez, Buf.iv. 232. Gen.Syn.m. 291. C. 



Length four inches and a half. Bill cinereous ; plumage above 

 pale olive, beneath yellow, head black ; quills blackish, edged with 

 yellow more or less, and a stripe of the same on the wings ; tail 

 a trifle forked; legs cinereous. 



The female has the crown grey brown ; cheeks and throat pale 

 yellow : said to be found in the woods about Buenos Ayres, as far as 

 the Straits of Magalhaen, and to sing better than any bird of South 

 America. 



