358 
PAINTED BUNTING. 
PAINTED BUNTING—EMBERIZA CIRIS. 
Plate XXIV. Fig. 1. Male ; Fig. 2. Female. 
Linn. Syst. 313 Painted Finch, Catesb. i. 44. — Edw. 130, 173. — Arct. Zool. 
p. 362, No 226. — Le Verdier de la Louisiane, dit vulgairement le Pape, Briss. 
iii. 200. App. 74. — Buff. iv. 76. PI. enl. 159. — Lath. ii. 206 — Linaria ciris, 
The Painted Finch, or Nonpareil, Bartram, p. 291. — Beale's Museum , No. 6062, 
and 6063. 
SPIZA CIRIS. — Bonaparte.* 
Fringilla (sub-genus Spiza) ciris, Bonap. Synop. p. 107. — Lapesserine nonpareil ou 
le papa, Passerina ciris, Vieill. Gall, des Ois. pi. 66. — The Painted Finch, Aud. 
pi. 53, male and female ; Orn. Biog. i. 279. 
This is one of tlie most numerous of the little summer 
birds of Lower Louisiana, where it is universally known 
among the French inhabitants, and called by them Le Pape , 
* From the general request of this species as a pet, it is requisite that con- 
siderable numbers should be taken, and the method used is thus described by- 
Audubon. I may remark, in the taking of various birds alive, “ call birds,” or 
tame ones, trained for the purpose of decoy, are commonly used in all countries, 
and in some instances, a stuffed specimen, or even a representation made of 
Paris plaster, is used with success. 
“ A male bird, in full plumage, is shot, and stuffed in a defensive attitude, 
and perched among some grass seed, rice, or other food, on the same platform 
as the trap-cage. This is taken to the fields, or near the orangeries, and 
placed in so open a situation, that it would be difficult for a living bird of any 
species to fly over it without observing it. The trap is set. A male Painted 
Finch passes, perceives it, and dives towards the stuffed bird, brings down the 
trap, and is made prisoner. In this manner, thousands of these birds are 
caught every spring ; and so pertinacious are they in their attacks, that, even 
when the trap has closed upon them, they continue pecking at the feathers of 
the supposed rival.” 
They feed immediately, and some have been kept in confinement for ten 
years. They cost about sixpence in New Orleans j but, in London, three 
guineas are sometimes asked. 
The various generic nomenclature to which this bird has been subjected, 
shews that ornithologists are at variance in opinion. It forms part of the 
first section of Bonaparte’s sub-genus Spiza, to which should also be referred 
the Fringilla Cyanea of this volume, p. 100. — Ed. 
