Page:Ornithological biography, or an account of the habits of the birds of the United States of America, vol 2.djvu/320

284 Adult Female. Plate CXLIX. Fig. 2.

The female is coloured like the male, but the tints are a little fainter.

This species is allied in form and habits to the Sea-side Finch, Frin- gilla maritima, with which, however, it cannot possibly be confounded by any person possessing the least observation. The description of that spe- cies in my first volume being defective in several particulars, I here sub- join a more accurate account of its colouring and dimensions taken from a number of specimens.

Bill dark brown above, paler on the sides ; the lower mandible bluish- grey, but in some individuals dusky. Iris hazel. Feet and claws grey- ish-blue, tinged with brown. Crown of the head bluish- grey in the mid- dle, deep-brown at the sides, the feathers black along the centre. Hind neck dull grey, tinged with brown ; back dark brown tinged with grey, some of the feathers edged with greyish-white. Primary quills wood- brown, secondary dark brown edged with reddish-brown ; the secondary and smaller coverts principally of the latter colour ; the edge of the wing vellow. Tail-feathers wood-brown, with a central line of blackish-brown, excepting the lateral, which are plain and paler. A broad yellowish- brown streak from the base of the bill over the eye, but not extending beyond it. Throat and fore neck greyish-white, with a streak of bluish- grey on each side. Breast and sides dull greyish-white, tinged with yel- lowish-red, and streaked with dusky ; the middle of the breast and the abdomen greyish-white; under tail-coverts pale yellowish-brown, streaked Tvith dusky.

Length 6| inches, extent of wings 8; bill along the back /^j, along the edge /g ; tarsus %.

Fringilla maritima is a much larger bird than F. caudacuta ; the bill is proportionally more elongated ; instead of the broad yellowish-red band over the eye, it has a narrow and much shorter one of a duller tint ; the band of the same colour beneath the eye is wanting, and the under parts are differently coloured and much duller. The third and fourth quills are longest in F. maritima, the second and third in F. caudacuta, while in the former the first is much shorter, and in the latter very little.