FEMALE INDIGO FINCH. 143 
observations of nature, when piles of pedantic compila- 
tions shall be forgotten. 
We refer our readers entirely to Wilson for the 
history of this very social little bird, only reserving to 
ourselves the task of assigning its true place in the 
system. As we have already mentioned in our “ Ob- 
servations,” he was the first who placed it in the genus 
Fringilla, (to which it properly belongs,) after it had 
been transferred from Tanagra to Emberiza by former 
writers, some of whom had even described it under both 
in one and the same work. But although Wilson 
referred this bird to its proper genus, yet he unaccount- 
ably permitted its closely allied species, the Fringilla 
ciris , to retain its station in Emberiza , being’ under the 
erroneous impression that a large bill was characteristic 
of that genus. This mistake, however, is excusable, 
when we consider that almost all the North American 
birds which he found placed in it, through the negligence 
or ignorance of his predecessors, are in fact distinguished 
by large bills. 
The transfer of this species to the genus Fringilla , 
renders a change necessary in the name of Loxia cyanea 
of Linne, an African bird, now a Fringilla of the 
subgenus Coccothraustes. The American bird belongs 
to Spiza , and, together with the Fringilla ciris and 
the beautiful Fringilla amcena , it may form a peculiar 
group, allied to Fringilla, Emberiza, and Tanagra, but 
manifestly nearest the former. 
The adult male, in full plumage, having been described 
by Wilson, may be omitted here. The female measures 
four inches and three quarters in length, and nearly 
seven in extent. The bill is small, compressed, and 
less than half an inch long, is blackish above and pale' 
horn colour beneath ; the irides are dark brown ; above 
she is uniformly of a somewhat glossy drab ; between 
the bill and eyes, and on the cheeks, throat, and all the 
inferior parts, of a reddish clay colour, much paler on 
the belly, dingy on the breast, and strongly inclining to 
drab on the flanks, blending into the colour of the back, 
the shafts of the feathers being darker, giving somewhat 
