Part 18

Obs. This little Owl is strictly congeneric with Nyctale Harrisii Cassin. Proc. Philada. Acad. IV. p. 157, (Feb. 1849,) and Journal of the same society, Quarto II., plate V., but different in size and color. N. Harrisii is the same as Ciccaba gisella Bonaparte, Cons. Av. p. 44, (1850.)

The present bird also resembles, in some degree, Strix frontalis Lichtenstein, described in a Fauna of California, in Transactions of the Berlin Academy, 1838, p. 430.

EMBERNAGRA BLANDINGIANA.—(Gambel.) Blanding’s Finch. PLATE XII.—Adult Male.

Blanding’s Finch was discovered in the Rocky mountains by Dr. Gambel, and named by him in honor of one of the most universally respected of American naturalists and friends of science, William Blanding, M. D., formerly a resident of Philadelphia, but now of Providence, Rhode Island. During many years of previous residence in South Carolina, Dr. Blanding omitted no opportunity of facilitating by observation and active exertion in contributing to collections, the advancement of the interests of Natural Science in all its departments, and he has been deservedly complimented by naturalists whose studies he has been the means of promoting, and with whom personally he has for many years maintained relations of the most friendly character. Many of the cultivators of Natural History in America owe much to the advice and encouragement of Dr. Blanding, and among such we gratefully include ourselves.

This bird belongs to a group of which several species are known to inhabit Mexico and South America, and of which one other species is a summer visitor to Texas. All of them are birds of handsome and even elegant general appearance and color of plumage, and partake much of the inoffensive habits of other birds of the family to which they belong, and which includes the Finches and Sparrows. Subsisting for the greater part on seeds, much of their time is passed on the ground, or in undergrowths of shrubbery in the immediate vicinity of fields and meadows, or other grass-bearing localities.

We regard the present species as the handsomest Bird of the family of Sparrows yet discovered in the United States, and regret that it is not in our power to lay before our readers an account of it at all full or satisfactory, little having been placed on record, or having otherwise come to our knowledge, beyond the fact that it inhabits sparingly the Rocky mountains, California and northern Texas. It is probably one of the many species which migrate in summer to those countries from Mexico, and even further southward, as is the case with the greater part of the numerous species of birds which are summer-residents in the eastern portion of this continent. Not more than three specimens of this bird have been brought home in the many extensive collections made by the various naturalists who have visited the countries where it is found, from which we must necessarily infer at present that it is one of the rarest of the birds of California and the Rocky mountains, though more abundant in Texas.

From Dr. Gambel’s paper containing his description of this bird, published in the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, I. p. 260, (April 1843,) and subsequently in the Journal of the same society, I. p. 51 (Quarto), we extract the following:

“Of this new and singularly marked species, I procured a single specimen only, in September, on the bank of a small stream in the Rocky mountains, about half-way between New Mexico and the Colorado of the West. It kept in low bushes, in company with Fringilla guttata, and F. graminea, occasionally uttering a single chirp. The throat and breast of this species very much resemble those of Fringilla Pennsylvanica.”

Dr. Woodhouse procured, also, one specimen, only, during Capt. Sitgreaves’ Expedition to the Zuñi, and Colorado rivers, respecting which he observes: “Whilst encamped on the Rio Salado, near San Antonio, Texas, in the beginning of April, I procured a solitary specimen of this beautiful and interesting bird. Its favorite haunts seemed to be the low bushes in the vicinity of the creek; this was the only one that I observed east of the Rio Grande. In the Zuni mountain, and in the vicinity of the pueblo of Zuñi, it was quite abundant.” (Report of an Expedition down the Zuñi and Colorado rivers, by Capt. L. Sitgreaves, of the Topographical Engineer Corps, U. S. Army, Washington, 1853. Zoology, p. 85.)

It was also seen by Dr. Heermann, in California.

Our figure is that of a male, and is about two-thirds of the natural size.

The plant represented, is Nuttallia digitata, a native of California.

DESCRIPTION AND TECHNICAL OBSERVATIONS.

Genus Embernagra. Lesson Traité d’Orn, p. 465, (1851.)

Bill, moderate, conic; wings, short, rounded, usually with the fifth and sixth quills slightly longest; tail, lengthened, rounded at the tip; tarsi and toes, lengthened, strong; claws, short, curved. A genus of birds related to Zonotrichia, and containing several species, all of which are American.

Embernagra Blandingiana. (Gambel.) Fringilla Blandingiana. Gamb., Proc. Acad. Philada. I. p. 260, (April, 1843) Fringilla chlorura. Aud. Orn. Biog. V. p. 336?

Form. Rather robust, bill strong, wing short, second, third and fourth quills nearly equal, third slightly longest, tail rather long, legs and feet strong, claws well developed, that on the hind toe large.

Dimensions. Adult. Total length (of skin) from tip of bill to end of tail, about 7 inches; wing, 3⅛; tail, 3¼ inches.

Colors. Head, above, fine rufous chestnut. All other upper parts, yellowish green, tinged with ashy. Throat, white, which color is bordered on each side by a line of ashy black. Sides of the neck, the breast and sides of the body, and flanks, light cinereous, tinged with ochre on the latter and under tail coverts. Middle of the lower part of breast, and of the abdomen, white. Wing, at its flexure and under wing coverts, yellow. Quills and tail-feathers, light greenish yellow on their outer webs.

Hab. California and Texas. Spec. in Mus. Acad. Philada., and Nat. Mus. Washington.

Obs. This species resembles somewhat several others which are natives of the Southern extreme of North America, though not sufficiently to be readily confounded with either of them.

The description of Fringilla chlorura, Aud. in Orn. Biog. V. p. 336, consists of extracts of letters from Dr. Townsend, in which a bird is described, of which he procured no specimens, but evidently like the present, in some respects, but not with sufficient precision to be determined. He represents it as “a true Fringilla. The head of light brownish color spotted with dusky, back varied with dusky and greenish olive, rump brownish spotted with dusky, &c.” Our present bird is by no means a true Fringilla, nor does the description otherwise apply to it with such degree of probability as to be relied on.

CARPODACUS FAMILIARIS.—M‘Call. The American House-Finch. PLATE XIII.—Male and Female.

When the winter of our northern climes has abated its rigors, and the season of brighter skies and returning flowers approaches, none of its early tokens are welcomed with more pleasing associations, than the reappearance of those familiar birds, which, like the Wren, the Blue Bird, and the Pewee Flycatcher, come pleasantly into the immediate vicinity of our dwellings, to select accommodations for the construction of their nests, and for rearing their young. They share the hospitality of the splendid mansion and the humble cottage, and are made welcome alike in each.

Of birds of this description, no species is more remarkable for its confiding disposition, than the little Finch now before the reader, and which is a native of the western countries of North America. It not only approaches the abodes of men without hesitation, and occupies habitually the suitable parts of houses and other buildings, but resorts in large numbers to such uncongenial localities as one might think them, as towns and cities. In several of those in New Mexico, and California, this bird is very abundant, and is a great favorite.

Several species of the same genus to which the present belongs, all of which present considerable similarity, inhabit northern countries of this continent, and others are found in the same latitudes of the old world. The males of all the species are clothed in plumage of fine crimson, or of purple of various and delicate shades, when they have attained maturity. The females are however of much plainer appearance, and generally present little similarity of color to their more gay consorts. The Purple Finch (Carpodacus purpureus) is the best-known American bird of this group. It is common as a winter visitor in the middle and southern States, and at that season its habits are such only as are adapted to a roving life in the woods. It retires in the spring to the northern states, and the mountains of Pennsylvania, and is there regarded with much favor on account of the beauty of its plumage and its agreeable song.

A species of the old world (C. erythrinus), which is one of several that are natives of northern Russia, of Siberia and Kamtschatka, is very similar in its general appearance to the Purple Finch, and, like it too, it has an extensive range of migration, appearing throughout European and Asiatic Russia, and the northern countries of India. Of the Asiatic species, one is remarkable for having been discovered on Mount Sinai, by an European naturalist, and in reference to that fact, has been named by him the Sinai Finch (Carpodacus sinaiticus.)

Our present bird appears to be the species alluded to by Dr. Gambel as the crimson-fronted Finch, Erythrospiza frontalis (Say), in the Journal of the Philadelphia Academy, Quarto, I. p. 53, in the following passage: “This handsome songster we first observed in New Mexico, particularly about Sante Fé, where it is an abundant and familiar resident, keeping about the corrals and gardens, and building its nest under the portals and sheds of the houses. In July the young were ready to fly, which must have been a second brood, or else they begin to lay much later than in California. Under a long shed or portal, in the Plaza or Square of Sante Fé, they had a great many nests; and the old birds would sometimes fly down about our feet while sitting at the doors, to pick up crumbs, &c. for their young.