A History of North American Birds, Land Birds. Volume 1

The eggs, usually five, rarely six in number, are of a uniform bluish-white, sharply pointed at one and rounded at the other end. They measure from .65 to .67 of an inch in length and from .50 to .55 in breadth. Dr. Cooper gives their measurement as .60 by .50; but of the contents of seven nests before me not an egg is less than .65 in length, and but one so small as .50 in breadth.

A nest of this Finch, built in a young elm-tree in Hingham, eight feet from the ground, was begun July 27, finished and the first egg laid August 1. By the 4th five eggs had been deposited, and on the 16th they had all been hatched.

Chrysomitris psaltria, var. psaltria, BonapROCKY MOUNTAIN GOLDFINCH; ARKANSAS GOLDFINCH

Fringilla psaltria, Say, Long’s Exped. R. Mts. II, 1823, 40.—Aud. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 85, pl. cccxciv. Fringilla (Carduelis) psaltria, Bon. Am. Orn. I, 1825, 54, pl. vi, f. 3. Carduelis psaltria, Aud. Syn. 1839, 117.—Ib. Birds Am. III, 1841, 134, pl. clxxxiii. Chrysomitris psaltria, Bp. List, 1838.—Ib. Consp. 1850, 516.—Gambel, Jour. A. N. S. 2d series I, 1847, 52 (female).—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 422.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 168.

Sp. Char. Male. Upper parts and sides of head and neck olive-green. Hood, but not sides of head below eyes, lores (or auriculars?), upper tail-coverts, wings, and tail black. Beneath bright yellow. A band across the tips of the greater coverts, the ends of nearly all the quills, the outer edges of the tertiaries, the extreme bases of all the primaries except the outer two, and a long rectangular patch on the inner webs of the outer three tail-feathers near the middle, white. Female with the upper parts generally, and the sides olive-green; the wings and tail brown, their white marks as in the male. Length, 4.25; wing, 2.40; tail, 1.85. Young like the female, but wing-bands more fulvous.

Hab. Southern Rocky Mountains to the coast of California; north to Salt Lake City (June 19; Ridgway), and Siskiyou Co., Cal. (Vuille); south to Sonora (Arispe, Feb. 26; E. S. Wakefield).

With quite a small series of specimens, a perfect transition can be shown from the typical C. psaltria, as above described, to the C. columbianus, the opposite extreme (see table, page 471). The former is the most northern, the latter the most southern form; arizonæ and mexicana, intermediate in habitat, are also as strikingly so in plumage. The difference is in the quantity of the black, this color predominating over the olive of the back and the white of wings and tail, in proportion as we go southward. There cannot, upon the whole, be any doubt that they are all specifically the same. The females can scarcely be distinguished.

Habits. The Arkansas Finch was first discovered in Long’s expedition to the Rocky Mountains, and described by Say in 1823. It has since been met with in New Mexico and in various parts of California. Dr. Cooper did not find this species in the Colorado Valley, although Dr. Kennerly met with it along Williams Fork, in New Mexico. Dr. Woodhouse did not see it in his route to the Zuñi River, either in New Mexico or the Indian Territory.

Dr. Kennerly met with these birds in the month of February. He found them very abundant all along the banks of the Bill Williams Fork. They were feeding on the young buds of the cottonwood trees. At that season they were in small flocks, and the only note he heard from them was a short chirp, as they hopped from twig to twig, or flew from one tree to another.

Dr. Heermann states that he found these Finches abundant in the northern mining regions of California, frequenting and feeding in the same localities with the C. lawrencii, and often associated with the Pine Finch. He adds that, while thus associated, he shot a large number of both species. They seemed to be employed, at the time, in picking out the fine gravel mixed in the mud used as mortar for a chimney, flying away at each discharge of the gun, but returning, in a few minutes, to the same place.

Mr. Audubon regarded this species as accidental in Louisiana, having procured individuals a few miles from Bayou Sara.

The Arkansas Goldfinch was found by Mr. Ridgway among the Wahsatch Mountains, his attention being at once drawn to it by its curious notes. He first met with it in “City-Creek Cañon,” near Salt Lake City, where individuals of it were frequently found mixed in with flocks of C. pinus. The note of this bird is remarkable for its power and very sad tone. The ordinary note is a plaintive, mellow, whistling call, impossible to describe, and so inflected as to produce a very mournful effect. When the bird takes to flight, it is changed to a simple cheer, similar to the anxious notes of the male Agelaius phœniceus, uttered when its nest is disturbed. This species was quite rare, not being so common as either C. pinus or C. tristis. Its nest was found in Parley’s Park, Wahsatch Mountains, June 22, in the top of a willow-bush near a stream.

At San Diego, and along the whole coast border of California, Dr. Cooper thinks that this Finch is rather rare. In the interior valleys they seem to be quite common. They also breed in small numbers in the Coast Range, near Santa Cruz. He states that their habits are very similar to those of the C. tristis, though they feed more on the ground, and more upon weeds than on trees, and are even more gregarious, remaining associated in flocks up to the first of June. Their song greatly resembles that of the common Goldfinch, but is much fainter.

Dr. Cooper never met with their nest, nor has he received any description of it. Mr. Xantus found one, containing four eggs, on the branch of an Obione, about ten feet from the ground. This was at Fort Tejon, the first of May. Dr. Canfield has also found their nests, in considerable numbers, near Monterey. They are built in the forks of trees, in the same manner with the tristis, are structures of remarkable beauty, and evince great skill in the architects. They contain usually four or five eggs. Except in size, their eggs greatly resemble those of the C. tristis, being of a uniform greenish-white, unspotted, of a rounded-oval shape, sharply pointed at one end. They measure .60 by .50 of an inch.

Chrysomitris psaltria, var. arizonæ, CouesARIZONA GOLDFINCH

Chrysomitris mexicana, var. arizonæ, Coues, P. A. N. S. 1866.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 170.

Sp. Char. (♂ 37,092, Fort Wingate, Arizona, June 28, 1864.) Above, including auriculars, glossy black, with a faint bluish reflection; nape, back, and rump much mixed with olive-green, this rather predominating; larger coverts broadly tipped with grayish-white; tertials, with almost the entire exposed portion of the outer webs, white; a patch on base of primaries, and the inner webs of the tail-feathers, except the ends, white. Beneath entirely lemon-yellow. Wing, 2.50; tail, 1.70; culmen, .35; tarsus, .50.

Hab. Southern boundary of Arizona and New Mexico, extending southward into Mexico, and gradually changing into mexicana, and northward into psaltria.

The specimen described above is from a series collected in Arizona by Dr. Coues: these examples vary in the relative amount of black and olive on the back, some having one, and others the other color predominating; the type selected is one which represents about the average plumage of this species from Arizona.

Habits. Dr. Coues found these birds abundant summer residents of Arizona, where they are said to arrive the last of April and to remain until the middle of September. In August the males are stated to assume the dull plumage of the females. In autumn they become decidedly gregarious, and feed almost exclusively upon buds and seeds. He thinks they are not so numerous in the southern portions of the Territory. In a letter received from him he remarks:—

“This bird was found to be common in New Mexico near Fort Wingate, at the eastern base of the main chain of mountains. I first observed it on the 28th of June, when I found quite a number together, and secured several specimens. They were in small troops on a rugged hillside covered with a sparse growth of junipers and stunted pines, feeding in company with the Poospiza bilineata. Judging from their actions, and from the fact that none but males were taken, I presume they were breeding in the vicinity. I found some difficulty in securing specimens, partly owing to the broken nature of the locality, and partly to the birds’ timidity in the unaccustomed presence of man. Those that were shot were all found to have the æsophagus as well as the gizzard crammed with seeds. They constantly uttered a plaintive lisping whistle as they gathered food, or as they flew from one tree to another, but their song did not strike my ear as precisely the same as that of the Goldfinch. These specimens were all in what I take to be perfect plumage, although the back was mixed with olive and black in nearly equal proportions, and the black of the pileum did not reach below the eyes to cut off the yellow under eyelid from the other yellowish parts of the head; thus closely resembling true psaltria.

“Upon my arrival at Fort Whipple in July, I found birds of this type abundant, and took a good many during the two following months, when they disappeared, and I saw none until about the first of May. A small ravine close by the fort, choked with a rank growth of weeds, was a favorite resort; there the birds could be found at nearly all times in season, in large troops, feeding in company with Chipping Sparrows, and the Spizella atrigularis. They were very tame during the latter part of the summer, would only rise when very closely approached, when they flew in a hesitating manner a short distance, and then pitched down again among the weeds to resume their busy search for food. In their undulating flight they utter their peculiar note, generally with each impulse of the wings, and keep up a continual chirping when feeding; but I did not hear their true song at this season. Some of the specimens taken were very young birds, and the species unquestionably breeds here, although I never succeeded in finding a nest.

“I should not omit to add, that whilst at Santa Fé, New Mexico, I saw caged birds that were thriving well, and apparently reconciled to confinement.”

A nest of this bird, obtained near Camp Grant, Arizona, by Dr. Palmer, is a flat and shallow structure, having a diameter of three inches, and a height of one and a quarter. The cavity is only a slight depression. This nest is made of a felting of various materials, chiefly the cotton-like down of the cottonwood-tree and other soft vegetable matter, fine stems of grasses, fragments of mosses, and various other similar materials, lined with finer materials of the same. Except in their slightly smaller size, the eggs are not distinguishably different from the preceding.

Chrysomitris psaltria, var. mexicana, BonapBLACK GOLDFINCH; MEXICAN GOLDFINCH

Carduelis mexicanus, Swains. Syn. Birds Mex. Phil. Mag. 1827, 435.—Wagler, Isis, 1831, 525. Chrysomitris mexicanus, Bp. Consp. Av. 1850, 516 (quotes Aud. tab. 427).—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 423, pl. liv, f. 1. Astragalinus mexicanus, Cab. Mus. Hein. 1851, 159.—Ib. Journ. für Orn. 1861, 7 (with synonymy).—Coues, P. A. N. S. 1866, 82. Fringilla melanoxantha (Licht.), Wagler, Isis, 1831, 525. ? Fringilla catotol, Gm. Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 914. Fringilla texensis, Giraud, 16 Sp. Birds Tex. 1841, pl. v. f. 1 (gives white belly).—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 169.

Sp. Char. Upper parts continuously and entirely black; the feathers of the rump white subterminally, and showing this through the black; a few of the feathers with greenish-yellow between the white and the black; a few, perhaps, without black tips. The bases of the third to seventh primaries, and the ends of the tertiaries externally white. The tail is black, except the outer three feathers, in which the outer webs and tips only are this color; the rest white. Inside of wing black. Under parts of body pale yellow. Female with the black of the head and body replaced by olive-green. Length, 4.12 inches; wing, 2.25; tail, 2.00.

Hab. Mexican side of the valley of the Rio Grande, southward; Oaxaca, June (Scl. 1858, 302); Cordova (Scl. 1856, 303); Guatemala (Scl. Ibis I, 19); Costa Rica (Cab. J. 1861, 7); Panama (Lawr. N. Y. Lyc. 1861, 331; winter).

Habits. The Mexican Goldfinch is distributed from the western side of the Rio Grande, through Mexico and Central America, to Panama. Sumichrast mentions it as found throughout the State of Vera Cruz, but most abundant in the temperate region. It breeds in the vicinity of Orizaba. It was taken in Central America, by Mr. Skinner, and has been reported from Costa Rica, and from Panama in the winter. Of its distinctive peculiarities we have no information, but they probably do not differ from those of the other forms of C. psaltria.

Chrysomitris lawrencii, BonapLAWRENCE’S GOLDFINCH

Carduelis lawrencii, Cassin, Pr. A. N. Sc. V, Oct. 1850, 105, pl. v (California). Chrysomitris lawrencii, Bon. Comptes Rendus, Dec. 1853, 913.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 424.—Heerm. X, S, 50 (nest).—Elliot, Illust. Am. B. I, pl. viii.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 171.

Sp. Char. Male. Hood, sides of head anterior to the middle of the eye, chin, and upper part of throat, black. Sides of head, neck, and body, upper part of neck and the back, and upper tail-coverts, ash-color. Rump and lesser wing-coverts yellowish-green. Throat below the black, breast, and outer edges of all the quills (except the first primary, and passing into white behind), bright greenish-yellow. Wings black. Tail-feathers black, with a white square patch on the inner web, near the end; outer edges grayish; quills black. Female similar, with the black of the head replaced by ash. Length, about 4.70; wing, 2.75; tail, 2.30. Young like the female, but wing-bands pale fulvous, instead of yellow.

Hab. Coast of California; Fort Whipple, Arizona (Coues, P. A. N. S. 1866, 83).

Habits. This species, now known to be so common throughout the greater portion of California, was first described by Mr. Cassin in 1850. Dr. Heermann afterwards found them very abundant throughout the northern mining regions of California, frequenting the hillsides covered with brush, the seeds and buds of which they eat with great avidity. Later in the season he found them at San Diego, in quest of grass-seeds on the level plains. They were in large flocks, and so closely packed that he shot thirteen at one discharge. Their nests, he states, are built in the fork of a bush or stunted oak, and are composed of fine grasses, lined with hair and feathers. They contain four or five pure white eggs.

Mr. Ridgway only met with this Goldfinch near the foot of the western slope of the Sierra Nevada.

Dr. Cooper met with a few of this species at Fort Mohave, on the Colorado, but found them more numerous near the coast as far north as San Francisco, at least, and also in the more northern mining regions. He has seen them about San Francisco in December, and has no doubt that they remain all the winter throughout the lower country. They seem to avoid the mountainous regions, and have not been met with in Oregon.

Their habits and their song are, in general respects, similar to those of the Goldfinch (C. tristis), but their voice is much weaker, and is higher in its pitch. Their nests, Dr. Cooper thinks, are placed, in preference, on the live-oaks; at least, he has never met with them in any other situation. They are built very much in the style of those of the Goldfinch, but are much smaller, the cavity measuring only an inch in depth and one and a half in breadth. The eggs he describes as four or five in number, pure white, and measuring .80 by .46 of an inch. He adds that they sometimes feed on the ground, on grass-seeds, as well as on buds and seeds of various weeds and trees. They were regarded by him as more of a sylvan species than the Goldfinch, and not so fond of willows and other trees growing along streams and in wet places. In the Colorado Valley they feed on the seeds of the artemisia. He did not notice any there after the middle of April. Eggs, in my own cabinet, from Monterey, identified by Dr. Canfield, are of a uniform greenish-white, exactly similar to those of C. psaltria and tristis, and measure only .58 by .45 of an inch, or less in length by .22 than as given by Dr. Cooper.

Three nests of this species obtained at Monterey, Cal., by Dr. Canfield, all exhibit more or less variations as to material and style of make. They are all more or less felted, and beautifully wrought, fully equal in artistic skill to the nests of the Goldfinch. They are about one and a half inches in height and three in diameter, and the cavity is an inch in depth and one and three quarters in diameter. The walls of these nests are soft, warm, and thick, composed of wool, both vegetable and animal, fine stems of grasses, down, feathers, and other materials, all closely matted together, and lined with the long hair of the larger animals. One of these nests is made up entirely of the finer grasses, strongly matted together.

Chrysomitris pinus, BonapPINE GOLDFINCH

Fringilla pinus, Wilson, Am. Orn. II, 1810, 133, pl. xvii, f. 1.—Aud. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 455; V, 509, pl. clxxx. Fringilla (Carduelis) pinus, Bon. Obs. Wils. 1825, No. 103. Linaria pinus, Aud. Synopsis, 1839, 115.—Ib. Birds Am. III, 1841, 125, pl. clxxx. Chrysomitris pinus, Bonap. Consp. 1850, 515.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 425.—Cooper & Suckley, 197.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 172.—Samuels, 290. ?? Chrysomitris macroptera, Dubus, Esq. Orn. tab. 23 (Mexico).—Bp. Conspectus, 1850, 515.

Chrysomitris pinus.

11096 ♀

Sp. Char. Tail deeply forked. Above brownish-olive. Beneath whitish, every feather streaked distinctly with dusky. Concealed bases of tail-feathers and quills, together with their inner edges, sulphur-yellow. Outer edges or quills and tail-feathers yellowish-green. Two brownish-white bands on the wing. Length. 4.75; wing, 3.00; tail, 2.20. Sexes alike. Young similar, but the white below tinged with yellow, the upper parts with reddish-brown, and there are two pale ochraceous bands on the wing.

Hab. North America from Atlantic to Pacific; Vera Cruz, plateau and alpine region (Sumichrast, I, 550).

Specimens from all parts of North America appear to be the same, but there is a great deal of variation among individuals. No. 10,225 ♂, Fort Tejon, California, and 51,636, Colorado Territory, are almost entirely white beneath, the streaks being hardly observable. 32,765, Mexico, and 9,524, Washington Territory, are unstreaked medially. No. 11,096, Fort Bridger, has the streaks on the sides unusually broad, and very black.

In autumn and winter a reddish-brown tinge overspreads the upper parts.

Habits. Though classed with the Goldfinches of this country, the Pine Finch, in many respects more nearly resembles, in its habits and nidification, the Carpodaci. It is found throughout the United States, from the Atlantic to the Pacific. In the winter it extends its irregular migrations into the Central States, as far as Northern California on the Pacific, and Southern Pennsylvania on the Atlantic. It breeds throughout the British Provinces, Northern Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Michigan, and thence to Washington Territory, in all the evergreen forests.

At Calais, Me., it is resident throughout the year, and breeds there, but is much more common in the winter than in the summer. In Western Maine, Professor Verrill observed it very common, both in the spring and in the fall, but never found it breeding. He found it very abundant about the Umbagog lakes in July, where it was evidently breeding. It breeds also abundantly among the White Mountains.

Mr. Ridgway first saw the Pine Finch on the East Humboldt Mountains, where, through July and August, it was quite common, and where undoubtedly it breeds, as a young bird unable to fly was obtained. On the Wahsatch Mountains it was a very abundant species, inhabiting the pines as well as the groves of aspens in the alpine regions. It is gregarious at all times, flying in roving, screeching flocks. The notes it utters on all occasions resemble a very peculiar pronunciation of swe-er, given in a very sharp tone. When the flock suddenly takes to flight, this is changed to a more rattling outcry. A nest, containing no eggs, was found in an aspen-tree; and another, containing one egg, similar to those described elsewhere, was found in a fir-tree (Abies) situated near the extremity of a horizontal branch about twenty feet from the ground.

The Pine Finch is also a very common and resident bird in the plateau of Mexico and in the alpine regions of the State of Vera Cruz. Its common name there is Dominiguito montero. In the alpine regions Sumichrast states that it is found to the height of six thousand five hundred feet, and does not, to his knowledge, descend below three thousand feet. It most especially frequents the plateau.

Captain Blakiston met with this species on the plains of the Saskatchewan, near the Rocky Mountains, August 6, 1858.

In the eastern portion of Massachusetts it is somewhat irregular in its movements and appearance, which are supposed to be affected by the abundance or scarcity of its food elsewhere. Here it feeds chiefly on seeds of grasses and weeds, probably only after the seeds of the hemlock and other forest trees have failed it. They are usually most abundant late in the season and after heavy falls of snow farther north have diminished their means of subsistence. Mr. Maynard found it very numerous in the winter of 1859-60, remaining until quite late in the season, and again in the winter of 1868-69, remaining until the last week in May. In Western Massachusetts, according to Mr. Allen, it is a regular winter visitant, but never abundant. It arrives early in October, and may be seen in small flocks from that time to the third week in May. It sometimes frequents the apple-orchards, where it feeds on the Aphides. According to Dr. Coues, this species occasionally strays as far to the south as the Carolinas, but it is not common there.

Wilson observed these birds near Philadelphia, where they were feeding on the seeds of the alder. Later in the season they collected in larger flocks and took up their abode among the pine woods. In one particular locality, he states, a flock of two or three hundred of these birds regularly wintered, for many years in succession, where noble avenues of pines furnished them with abundant food throughout the season. Early in March they all disappeared. While there, they were so tame as to allow a person to approach within a few yards. They fluttered among the branches, frequently hanging from the cones, at the same time uttering notes closely resembling those of the Goldfinch.

In severe winters Mr. Audubon has met with the Pine Finch as far south as Henderson, Ky., and Charleston, S. C., but such visits were always brief. In August, 1832, he met with flocks of these birds in Labrador. They were in company with the Crossbill, and were feeding on the seeds of the fir-trees, and also on those of the thistle. When at the Magdalen Islands he frequently saw flocks moving from various directions. At Bras d’Or, towards the end of July, they were in great numbers, and the old birds were accompanied by their young. They frequented thickets of willows and elders in the vicinity of water, and were very fearless and gentle. According to his account they sing while on the wing, and their notes are sweet, varied, clear, and mellow, and, while somewhat resembling the song of the C. tristis, are perfectly distinct from it. Its flight is exactly similar, both gliding through the air in graceful and deep curves.

In Washington Territory Dr. Cooper found this Finch an abundant and constant resident, migrating to the coast in winter, where it feeds on the seeds of the alder. In summer they were gregarious, even when occupied with their nests and young. He has never met with any in California, not even in the Sierra Nevada, though they have been found by others along its whole western slope, as far south as Fort Tejon. They feed on the seeds of both coniferous and deciduous trees.