FEMALE INDIGO FINCH. 
143 
tift„ ePva ^ ons °f nature, when piles of pedantic compila- 
shall be forgotten. . . , 
His* * re fer our readers entirely to Wilson for the 
0l J7 of this very social little bird, only reserving to 
'y»t V< * t *' l! tnsh "of assigning its true place in the 
As we have already mentioned in our “ Ob- 
fy ln >US,” he was the first who placed it in the genus 
(to which it properly belongs,) after it had 
^‘‘^nsferred from Tanagra to Emberiza by former 
it, l<lrs » some of whom uad even described it under both 
t e f t ' 0e and the same work. But although Wilson 
this bird to its proper genus, yet he unaccount- 
ed Emitted its closely allied species, the Fringilla 
tr r , to retain its sUtion in Emberiza, being under the 
of ,? e °ns impression that a large bill was characteristic 
'lit,,' 11 ' genus. This mistake, however, is excusable, 
bi,. ( ( u 'ye consider that almost all the North American 
is tv 
„ 'hich he found placed in it, through the negligence 
liv f n °rance of his predecessors, are in fact distinguished 
W bills. 
r e *. Ui: transfer of this species to the genus Fringilla, 
or r , rs a change necessary in the name of Loxia cyanea 
an 'African bird, now a Fringilla of the 
l tt f> ““s Coccothraustes. The American bird belongs 
til,, l“* a > and, together with the Fringilla ciris and 
1 n • •/! .... n nnnnlioH 
“‘"'tifiil Fringilla amtzna, it may form a peculiar 
iii 4n il' allied to Fringilla, Emberiza, and Tanagra, but 
Ti s tly nearest the former. 
by m? a 'lnlt male, in full plumage, having been described 
y »uuit male, in iuu piumagi 
ion, ! son . may bo omitted here. 
Soy,,. I[ ' c hes and three quarter 
The female measures 
in length, and nearly 
!, ln extent. The bill is small, compressed, and 
ho,. Ia n half an inch long, is blackish above and pale 
she ■ tlJ louv beneath; the irides are dark brown; above 
l, niformly of a somewhat glossy drab ; between 
, I'd and eves, and on the cheeks, throat, and all the 
~ ' .. 1 I* l. vl. nulni' nn 
the 
parts, of a reddish clay colour, much paler on 
f.i -y, diiery on the breast, and strongly inclining to 
tL,°“ the flanks blending into the colour of the back, 
1Ulf ts of the feathers being darker, giving somewhat 
