FBINGILLIDJE: FINCHES, BUNTINGS, SPABEOWS, ETC. 393 
nest in bushes and shrubbery, large, domed, with lateral entrance; eggs 3-G, 0.G5 X 0.50, 
white, speckled with reddish. 
94. PYRRHULO'XIA. (Lat. pyrrliula + loxia; pyrrhula, a bullfinch ; loxia, a cross-bill. Gr. 
TTuppdy, purhros, red ; Xo^t'ap, loxias, crooked.) Bullfinch Cardinals. Bill very short and 
stout, hooked almost like a parrot's : its depth at base exceeding its length ; under mandible 
deeper than upper at nostrils ; culmen curved almost to the quadrant of a circle ; commissure 
forcibly angulated in advance of nostrils; gonys about straight. Otherwise generally like 
Cardinalis. Colors grayish and red ; head crested. One large species. 
298. P. sinua'ta. (Lat. sinuata, bent, bowed, curved; sinus, abend, bay: alluding to the bill.) 
Bullfinch Cardinal. Texas Cardinal. Conspicuously crested, and otherwise like the 
common cardinal in form, but the bill extremely short and crooked. ^: Ashy-brown, paler 
or whitish below ; the crest, face, throat, breast, and middle line of belly, with the wings and 
tail, more or less perfectly crimson or carmine red; bill whitish. Length 8.00-8.50; extent 
11.00-12.00; wing 3.50-4.00; tail 3.75-4.25. 9 similar to the ^, more so than 9 Cardinalis: 
red of crest, wings, and tail much the same ; rather brownish- yellow below, usually with traces 
of red on the breast and belly, sometimes without. Young ^ like the 9 • At an early age, 
both sexes have the bill obscured. In this species the crest is long, but thin, consisting of a 
few coronal feathers, without general elongation of the head-plumage. The shade of red is very 
variable in equally adult males. In highest feather it is continuous on the under parts from 
bill to. tail along the median line ; but it is often broken into patches on throat, belly, and 
crissum. The tint is always carmine, not vermilion as usual in the common cardinal. The 
intense rose-color is well displayed on spreading the wings. A singular bird, inhabiting the 
U. S. near the Mexican border, from Texas to Lower California ; abundant in the valley of 
the Lower Rio Grande. The habits, nest, and eggs are substantially the same as those of the 
common cardinal. 
95. CARDINA'LIS. (Lat. cardinalis, pertaining to cardo, 
a door-hinge ; cardinal, that upon which something 
hinges or depends ; hence important, principal, cardinal 
point ; cardinal, a chief ecclesiastical (ifficial, wearing 
the red hat ; hence cardinal-red, from which color the 
bird is named. Fig. 254.) Cardinal Grosbeaks. 
Bill very large and stout, but quite conic ; culmen a little 
convex ; gonys about straight ; commissure sinuate, not 
abruptly angulated ; lower mandible about as deep as 
upper ; rictus bristled. Wings very short and rounded ; 
usually 4th and 5th quills longest, others rapidly grad- 
uated both ways, — 5th to 1st, 5th to 9th. Tail longer 
than wings, rounded, of broad feathers with obliquely fig. 254. -Head of Cardinal Grosbeak, 
oval tips. Tarsus longer than middle toe and claw; nat. size. (Ad nat. del. E. c.) 
lateral toes subequal. Size large. Head crested. Color mostly red, including bill. Sexes 
subsimilar. 
399. C. virginia'nus. (Of Virginia; name inappropriate to Queen Elizabeth. Figs. 254, 255.) 
Cardinal Grosbeak. Cardinal Red-bird. Virginia Nightingale. $, adult: Rich 
red, usually vermilion, sometimes rosy; pure and intense on crest and under parts, darker on 
back, where obscured with ashy-gray, as it is also on upper surfaces of wings and tail ; the 
feathers of the wings fuscous on inner webs. A jet-black mask on the face, entirely surround- 
ing the bill, extending on the throat. Bill coral-red ; feet brown. Length 8.00-9.00; extent 
11.00-12.00 ; wing 3.50-4.00 ; tail 4.25-4.75 ; bill 0.67-0.75 ; tarsus 0.90-1.00. 9 rather less : 
Ashy-brown, paler and somewhat yellowish-brown below, Avith traces of red ; reddening much 
as in the $ on crest, wings, and tail. Young $ : At first like 9, but soon reddening; at an 
