132 



GOLDFINCH— HUMMING-BIRD— WREN- TO WHEE. 



the interval passes through so many changes that the variety of 

 appearance it presents has given rise to the various names under 

 which these birds have been described. The flight of this species 

 is rapid. The Mango frequents gardens as well as forests, and is 

 very common in Rio Janeiro in some seasons and equally scarce at 

 others. The nest, according to Gould, is a round cup-shaped 

 structure, placed near the extremity of a small horizontal branch, 

 and is composed of any cottony or similar material that may be at 

 hand, bound together with cobwebs, and ornamented with numer- 

 ous small pieces of lichen. The eggs are white, and two in num- 

 ber, half an inch long by three-eighths of an inch in breadth. 



" Wishing to keep one of these birds alive," says Gould, " I 

 stationed myself near a blossoming papau tree, one evening, with 

 a gauze ring-net in my hand, with which I darted at one, and 

 though I missed my aim, the attempt so astonished it that it ap- 

 peared to have lost its presence of mind, so to speak, flitting hur- 

 riedly hither and thither for several seconds before it flew away. 

 The next morning I again took my station, and 6tood quite still, 

 the nest being held up close to an inviting branch of blossoms ; the 

 Humming Birds came near in their course round the tree, sipped 

 the surrounding flowers, eyeing the net hanging in the air for a 

 moment near the fatal cluster without touching it, and then, arrow- 

 like, darting away. At length one, after surveying the net, passed 

 again round the tree, and in approaching it the second time and 

 perceiving the strange object not to have moved, he took courage 

 and began to suck. I quite trembled with hope ; in one instant the 

 net was struck, and before I could see anything, the rustling of 

 his wings within the gauze told me that the little beauty was a cap- 

 tive. I brought him in triumph to the house and caged him, but 

 he was very restless, clinging to the sides and wires, and fluttering 

 violentty about. The next morning, having gone out on an ex- 

 cursion for a few hours, I found the poor bird on my return dying, 

 having beaten himself to death. I never again took this species 

 alive." 



Black-headed Goldfinch. (Chrysomitris magellanica^) 



Fig. 3- 



Of this species, Audubon says : " While residing at Henderson, 

 on the Ohio, I, one cold morning in December, observed five males 

 of this species on the heads of some sunflowers in my garden, and, 

 after watching them for a little time, shot two of them. The rest 

 rose high in the air, and were soon out of sight. Considering the 

 birds very nearly allied to our common American Goldfinch, I was 

 surprised to find the head black at that season. Their notes re- 

 semble those of the Pine Finch, Ltnarza pmus, but in their man- 

 ner of feeding, as well as in their flight, they precisely resembled 

 the American Goldfinch, Carduelis tristis. All my subsequent 

 endeavors to meet this species failed." 



Black-chinned Humming-bird. (Trochilus alexandri.) 



Fig. 4. 



This species is very closely allied to the Ruby-throated Hum- 

 ming-bird of Eastern North America, the difference consisting 

 in the color of the chin and the shape of the tail. The tail in the 

 male is nearly even, or slightly rounded, instead of being decidedly 

 forked. The females of the two species are very similar, and can 

 scarcely be distinguished. Whilst the Ruby-throated Humming- 

 bird is confined to the east of the Rocky Mountains, this species is 

 confined to the west of the same range. Cooper, in his Ornithology 

 of California, says: *•' I observed none of this species in the Col- 

 orado Valley, and in coming westward first saw them along the 

 Morgan river on the third of June. I also found one of their nests 

 there, built in a dark willow thicket in a fork of a tree about eight 



feet from the ground. I have since found several more nests near 

 Santa Barbara, all of them built near the end of hanging branches 

 of the sycamore (fllatanus), constructed entirely of white down 

 from the willow or sycamore catkins, agglutinated by the bird's 

 saliva, and attached in the same way to the branch on which they 

 rested. These were built in April, and early in May I found sev- 

 eral containing two white eggs, like those laid by all Humming- 

 birds, oblong in shape, and alike at each end; size, 0.51 by 0.32. 

 Dr. Hurman found their nests as far north as Sacramento, and 

 south to Guaymas. I have never seen the species in places ex- 

 posed to the cold sea-winds, where others are found. It is a less 

 interesting and conspicuous bird than the larger species found in 

 this state, and probably not often recognized, though its small size 

 is alone sufficient to distinguish it. 



« ' During the progress of the Northwestern Boundary Survey, Mi . 

 J. K. Lord, of the British commission, was so fortunate as to find 

 this species between the Cascade and Rocky Mountains, near lati- 

 tude 49 , where they arrived toward the end of May, and fre- 

 quented the vicinity of lakes, pools, and swamps where the birch 

 tree grows. The sap excluded from the bark of this tree attracted 

 numbers of insects, on which this Humming-bird chiefly fed. He 

 found the nests in high forks of branches of the birch or alder." 



Mexioan Wren — White-throated Wren. (Catherpes mexicanus.) 



Fig- 5- 



Until lately, the range of the White-throated Wren has been 

 from the United States border, thence southward. Mr. Aiken re- 

 ports it found in winter in Colorado, among large masses of rock 

 on the faces of cliffs. Mr. Allen remarks that "The White- 

 throated Wren is one of the most noteworthy birds of those re- 

 markable localities near Colorado City, known as ' Monument 

 Park,' and the ' Garden of the Gods.' When alone, I observed it 

 in Colorado. Equally with the Rock Wren, it is a lover of cliffs 

 and bare rocky exposures. Wherever it occurs, at least in the 

 breeding season, its presence is sure to be known by its loud ring- 

 ing notes. At the localities above named it seemed to delight in 

 the reverberation of its notes from the high sandstone walls that 

 give to the Garden of the Gods its peculiar picturesqueness." Ac- 

 cording to Prof. Sumichrast, it is very common on the plateau of 

 Mexico, " where it probably has its center of propagation," and 

 it is also found in the temperate region of the department of Vera 

 Cruz. " In Orizaba, it nests in the houses; its nest, very skill- 

 fully wrought with spiders' webs, is built in the crevices of old 

 walls, or in the interstices between the tiles under the roofs of 

 houses." 



Dr. Coues says: "The note of the species is one of the most 

 striking I ever heard ; for a bird of its size, it sings with wonderful 

 strength and clearness, uttering a peculiar ringing whistle, the odd 

 intonations of which are exaggerated in the echoes awakened 

 among the fastnesses of the rocks. It is a very active, sprightly 

 bird, leaping and fluttering among the rocks almost incessantly." 



Oregon Towhee. (Pipilo maculatus, var. oregonus.) 



Fig. 6. 



This species is very similar to the Chewink, Towhee Bunting 

 or Marsh Robin, which will be noticed by a comparison of the 

 figures of the two species. The Chewink is represented on Plate 

 LVI., Fig. 8. " The note of the Oregon Towhee," says Coues, 

 "is entirely different, the words 'towhee' and * chewink' being 

 an attempt to imitate the sound, while the cry of the western varie- 

 ties of maculatus is exactly like the scolding mew of a Catbird." 

 The Oregon Towhee is met with on the Pacific coast. 



