260 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 



[75.] 1. Pyrgita (Pipilo) arctica. (Swainson.) Arctic Ground- Finch. 



Sub-family, Fringillinse, Sw. Genus, Pyrgita, Antiq. Sub-genus, Pipilo, Vieill. 



Ch. Sp. Pipilo arctica, super nigrcscens, capite collo pectoreqite nigris (infoemina ferrugineis), dorso scapularibus 

 lectricibusque albo fasciatis, remige primo et octavo subaqualibus . 



Sp. Ch. Arctic Ground-Finch, with the head, neck, and upper plumage hlackish (in the female ferruginous- 

 brown) ; back, scapulars, and wing covers striped with white ; first and eighth quill feathers nearly equal. 



Plate li. Male. Plate lii. Female. 



Of this sub-genus, which was supposed to consist but of one example, we have 

 now characterised no less than five additional species, four of which are typical. 

 The group appears confined to America, and seems to be the Rasorial type 

 of the true Sparrows (Pyrgita) : if so, it will consequently touch the circle of the 

 Tanagrince at that point which brings Pipilo into junction with such a form as 

 is seen in M. Vieillot's figure of the Fringilla Xena of Linnaeusf, a rare and most 

 interesting bird. The northern species comes so very close to the Mexican Pipilo 

 metadata, Swains., fully described and figured in the Illustrations of Ornithology, 

 that we might, at first sight, be tempted to think they were the same. A more 

 rigid comparison, however, will detect the following distinctions : — 



PIPILO ARCTICA*. PIPILO MACULATA. 



Wings with the first quill intermediate be- Wings shorter, more rounded ; the first quill 

 tween the seventh and eighth. The second much shorter than any of the primary or 

 and sixth equal ; the third, fourth, and secondary quills. The second and seventh 

 fifth longest. equal ; the third and fifth equal ; the fourth 



longest. 



Greater quills exceeding the lesser in length Greater quills only four-tenths longer than 

 six-tenths of an inch. the lesser quills. 



Tarsi one inch. _ Tarsi one inch, one-tenth. 



Hind toe shorter than the claw. Hind toe and claw equal, or the latter some- 



what longer. 



By this comparison it appears that, in Pipilo maculata, the wings are more 



* Two of the specimens exhibit not the least deviation from these characters ; the third, which is a smaller, and, in 

 all probability, a younger bird, slightly varies in the quills. We have already shewn, in our notes upon the young 

 Hen-Harriers, that the quill feathers do not gain their true proportions until a perfect adult age. — Sw. 



•j- A specimen was once in the Zoological Society's museum (see Zool. Journ., iii., p. 441), and might have furnished 

 materials for solving one of the most difficult problems in Ornithology; but we are informed that it is no longer in 

 existence. We know not of a single example in England, nor is there one in the Paris Museum. Until the structure 

 of this bird is explained, some little doubt may still hang over the precise situation of Pipilo. A seventh species has 

 just come into our possession from Brazil, and an eighth from Mexico. — Sw. 



