518 
GRANIVOROUS BIRDS. 
vated from the ground by a layer of coarse leaf-stalks, 
such as those of the hickory. The eggs are 4 or 5, white 
with a tinge of flesh-color, thickly spotted with reddish- 
brown of two shades, rather more numerous towards the 
larger end. The first brood are raised early in June, 
and a second is often observed in the month of July ; but 
in this part of New England they seldom raise more than 
one. The pair show great solicitude for the safety of 
their young, fluttering in the path, and pretending lame- 
ness, with loud chirping when their nest is too closely 
examined. 
The Towwee Finch is about 8 inches in length; and 11 in alar 
dimensions. Vent pale bay ; a few spots at times on the sides of the 
bay of the breast. The wing in the adult and perfect male has the 
1st primary wholly black. The next 3 with an interrupted white 
edging, about J an inch in extent, running down across the wing ; 
the white spot below, and just over the bastard wing, stretches over 
the lower part of the 6 primaries after the 1st ; there are then 3 line- 
ar, irregular, white blotches on the outer webs of the 3 tertials next 
to the body ; in the younger males, even of the 2d season, these last 
spots resemble a mere rufous- white edging, and the upper straggling 
wing-spot extends now over the edges of the 5 primaries after the first. 
The 1st primary is short, and the 3d, 4th, and 5th are nearly of equal 
length, and longest, with the 6th but little shorter. The tail is long 
(about 3J inches), and the 3 first feathers on either side are regular- 
ly graduated. The legs and feet are pale flesh-color, and remarka- 
bly stout, with the claws very long. — Note. This, and some other 
Mexican species, bearing a sort of family resemblance, have been 
thrown into a genus apart by Vieillot, under the name of Pipilo ; 
but we have not been fortunate enough to discover in this bird any 
thing more than habit, to distinguish it from other species of true 
Fringilla . 
Subgenus. — Coccqthraustes. 
In these birds the bile is very stout, and at base as wide as the 
forehead ; it is likewise slightly curved at the point, and more or less 
turgid at the sides. 
