344 
SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSEBES— OSCINES. 
63. PYR'RHULA. (Lat. pyrrhula, a bullfincli.) Bullfinches. Generic characters of Pinicola 
as above given ; the lesser hook of the bill and different style of coloration being the principal 
distinction. Colors in masses of black, white or gray, and red. 
191. P. cas'sini. (To John Cassin. Fig. 208.) 
Cassin's Bullfinch. Above, clear ashy- 
gray; below, cinnamon-gray; rump and under 
wing- and tail-coverts white ; wings and tail, 
crown, chin and face black ; outer tail-feathers 
with a white patch, greater wing-coverts 
tipped and primaries edged with whitish ; bill 
black, feet dusky. Length 6.50; wing 3.50; 
tail 3.25. Nulato, Alaska, only one specimen 
known, marked ^ , but having all the charac- 
ters of a 9 j nearest related to P. coccir.ca of 
Asia, and originally described as a variety of 
that species. Fig. 208. —Cassin's Bullfinch, reduced. (From Baird.) 
64. PAS'SER. (Lat. passer, a sparrow: this very species.) Sparrows. Form stout and 
stocky. Bill very stout, shaped somewhat as in Carpodacus, but without nasal ruff. Cul- 
men curved ; commissure little angulated ; gonys convex, ascending ; lateral outlhies of bill 
bulging to near the end. Wing pointed ; 1st, 2d, and 3d primaries nearly equal and 
longest ; 4th little shorter, rest graduated ; inner secondaries not elongate. Tail shorter than 
wings, nearly even. Feet small ; tarsus about equal to middle toe and claw ; lateral toes of 
equal lengths, their claws not reaching to base of middle claw. Sexes unlike. ^ with black 
and chestnut on head. Middle of back only streaked. Old World : two species naturalized in 
North America. 
192. P. domes'ticus. (Lat. domesticus, domestic. Fig. 209.) The Sparrow. Philip Spar- 
row. House Sparrow. Parasite. Tramp. Hoodlum. Gamin. adult: Upper 
parts ashy-gray ; middle of back and scapulars boldly streaked with black and bay. A dark 
chestnut or mahogany space behind eye, spreading on side of neck. Lesser wing-coverts deep 
chestnut ; median tipped wdth white, forming a conspicuous wing-bar, bordering which is a 
black line. Greater coverts and inner quills with central black field bordered with bay. Tail 
dusky-gray, unmarked. Lower parts ashy, gray or w^hitish ; chin and throat jet black, 
spreading on the breast and lores, bordered on side of neck with white. Bill blue-black ; feet 
brown. Wing about 3.00; tail 2.25. 9 , adult : Above, brownish-gray ; streaking of back 
light ochrey-brown and black ; wing-edgings light ochrey-brown, the white bar impure. 
No black, mahogany, or white on head; a pale brown postocular stripe; bill blackish - 
brown, yellowish at base below. Varies endlessly in the purity or dinginess of coloration. 
Young ^ at first like 9 • Europe, etc. Imported about fifteen years ago, during a craze 
which even affected some ornithologists, making people fancy that a grarivorous conirostral 
bird would rid us of ihsect-pests, this sturdy and invincible little bird has overrun the whole 
country, and proved a nuisance without a redeeming quality. Well-informed persons 
denounced the bird without avail during the years when it might have been abated, but 
further protest is futile, for the sparrows have it all their own way, and can afford to laugh at 
legislatures, like rats, mice, cockroaches and other parasites of the human race which we have 
imported. This species, of all birds, naturally attaches itself most closely to man, and easily 
modifies its habits to suit such artificial surroundings ; this ready yielding to conditions of 
environment, and profiting by them, makes it one of the creatures best fitted to survive in the 
struggle for existence under whatever conditions man may afford or enforce ; hence it wins in 
every competition with native birds, and in this country has as yet developed no counteractive 
influences to restore a disturbed balance of forces, nor any check whatever upon its limitless 
