CARDINAL GROSBEAK. 
273 
white, while at other times it was red ; and Mr Elliot, 
of Beaufort, a judiciqns naturalist, informed me, that in 
the month of February he killed a towhe bunting with 
one eye red and the other white ! It should be observed, 
that the iris of the young bird’s eye is of a chocolate 
colour during its residence in Pennsylvania; perhaps 
this may brighten into a white during winter, and these 
may have been all birds of the preceding year, which 
had not yet received the full colour of the ej^e. 
The towhe bunting is eight inches and a half long, 
and eleven broad ; above, black, which also descends, 
rounding on the breast, the sides of which are bright 
bay, spreading along under the wings; the belly is 
white, the vent, pale rufous ; a spot of white marks the 
wing just below the coverts, and another a little below 
that extends obliquely across the primaries ; the tail is 
long, nearly even at the end ; the three exterior feathers 
white for an inch or so from the tips, the outer one, 
wholly white, the middle ones, black ; the bill is black; 
the legs and feet, a dirty flesh colour, and strong, for 
scratching up the ground. The female differs in being 
of a light reddish brown in those parts where the male 
is black, and in having the bill more of a light horn 
colour. 
SUBGENUS IV. — COCCOTHRAUSTES, BRISSON. 
180 . FRINGILLA CARDINALIS, BONAPARTE. 
LOXIA CARDINALIS, WILSON. CARDINAL GROSBEAK. 
WILSON, PLATE II. FIG. I. MALE. — FIG. II. FEMALE. 
EDINBURGH COLLEGE MUSEUM. 
This is one of our most common cage birds ; and is 
very generally known, not only in North America, but 
even in Europe, numbers of them having been carried 
over both to France and England, in which last country 
they are usually called Virginia nightingales. To this 
name, Dr Latham observes, “ they are fully entitled,” 
from the clearness and variety of their notes, which, 
both in a wild and domestic state, are very various and 
VOL. II. s 
