Part 77

The colors are softer and more blended in the autumn; the young are obsoletely streaked on the breast.

HABITS. Bell’s Finch has apparently a more restricted distribution than the Black-throated species, and is resident wherever found. It has been met with at Posa Creek, Cal., by Dr. Heermann, at Fort Thorn by Dr. T. C. Henry, and along the Colorado River by Drs. Kennerly and Möllhausen. It has likewise been found in Southern California, as far north as Sacramento Valley, and in the valley of the Gila.

Dr. Cooper states that all the extensive thickets throughout the southern half of California are the favorite resorts of this bird. There they apparently live upon small seeds and insects, indifferent as to water, or depending upon what they obtain from dews or fogs. They reside all the year in the same localities, and were also numerous on the island of San Nicolas, eighty miles from the mainland. In spring the males utter, as Dr. Cooper says, a low monotonous ditty, from the top of some favorite shrub, answering each other from long distances. Their nest he found about three feet from the ground, composed of grasses and slender weeds, lined with hair and other substances. The eggs, four in number, he describes as pale greenish, thickly sprinkled over with reddish-brown dots. At San Diego he found the young hatched out by May 18, but thinks they are sometimes earlier. It is also a common bird in the chaparral of Santa Clara Valley, and also, according to Dr. Heermann, along the Cosumnes River.

In Arizona, according to Dr. Coues, it is rather uncommon about Fort Whipple, owing to the unsuitable nature of the locality, but is abundant among the sage-brush of the Gila Valley, where it keeps much on the ground, and where its movements are very much like those of a _Pipilo_.

Drs. Kennerly and Möllhausen met with these Sparrows on the Little Colorado River, in California, December 15. They were found during that month along the banks of the river wherever the weeds and bushes were thick. It was never observed very far from the water, and its food, at that season, seemed to consist of the seeds of various kinds of weeds. Its motions were quick, and, when started up, its flight was short, rapid, and near the earth.

Dr. Heermann states that in the fall of 1851 he found this species in the mountains bordering the Cosumnes River, and afterwards on the broad tract of arid land between Kerr River and the Tejon Pass, and again on the desert between that and the Mohave River. He often found them wandering to a great distance from water. With only a few exceptions, these were the only birds inhabiting the desolate plains, where the artemisia is the almost exclusive vegetation. When undisturbed, it chants merrily from some bush-top, but, at the approach of danger, drops at once to the ground and disappears in the shrubbery or weeds. Its nest he found built in a bush, composed of twigs and grasses, and lined with hair. The eggs, four in number, he describes as of a light greenish-blue, marked with reddish-purple spots, differing in intensity of shade.

Poospiza belli, var. nevadensis, RIDGWAY.

ARTEMISIA SPARROW.

_Poospiza belli_, var. _nevadensis_, RIDGWAY, Report on Birds of 40th Parallel.

SP. CHAR. Resembling _P. belli_, but purer ashy above, with the dorsal streaks very distinct, instead of almost obsolete. Wing, 3.20 (instead of 2.50); tail, 3.20 (instead of 2.50); bill (from forehead), .35; tarsus, .76. (Type, No. 53,516 ♂, Western Humboldt Mountains, Nev., United States Geol. Expl. 40th Par.)

_Young._ Streaked above, the crown obsoletely, the back distinctly. Whole breast and sides with numerous short dusky streaks upon a white ground. Markings about the head indistinct, wing-bands more distinct than in the adult.

HAB. Middle Province of United States, north to beyond 40° (resident).

[Line drawing: _Poospiza belli_, var. _belli_. 11211]

The difference in size between the race of the Great Basin and that of the southern Pacific Province, of this species, is quite remarkable, being much greater than in any other instance within our knowledge. This may, perhaps, be explained by the fact that the former is not migratory, but resident even in the most northern part of its range; while the California one is also resident, and an inhabitant of only the southern portion of the coast region, not reaching nearly so far north as the race of the interior.

The coloration of the two races is quite identical, though in all specimens of var. _belli_ the dorsal streaks are obsolete, sometimes even apparently wanting, while in the var. _nevadensis_ they are always conspicuous. The former appears to be more brownish above than the latter.

HABITS. These birds, Mr. Ridgway states, have a very general distribution, extending as far west as the eastern base of the Sierra Nevada. At Carson City, February 27, he heard for the first time their sweet sad chant. A week later he found the sage-brush full of these birds, the males being in full song and answering one another from all directions. In walking through the sage-brush these Sparrows were seen on every side, some running upon the ground with their tails elevated, uttering a chipping twitter, as they sought to conceal themselves behind the shrubs. Some were seen to alight upon the tops of dead stalks, where they sit with their tails expanded almost precisely after the manner of the Kingbird. The song of this bird is feeble, but is unsurpassed for sweetness and sadness of tone. While its effect is very like the song of a Meadow Lark singing afar off, there is, besides its peculiar sadness, something quite unique in its modulation and delivery. It is a chant, in style somewhat like the spring warbling of the Shore Lark.

On the 24th of March, at Carson City, he found these Sparrows very abundant and everywhere the predominating species, as it was also the most unsuspicious and familiar. It was even difficult to keep them from under the feet. A pair would often run before him for a distance of several rods with their unexpanded tails elevated, and when too nearly approached would only dodge in among the bushes instead of flying off.

On the 9th of April, walking among the sage-brush near Carson City, Mr. Ridgway found several nests of this Sparrow, the female parent in each instance betraying the position of her nest by running out, as he approached, from the bush beneath which it was concealed. With elevated tail, running rapidly and silently away, they disappeared among the shrubbery. In such cases a careful examination of the spot was sure to result in finding an artfully concealed nest, either embedded in the ground or a few inches above it in the lower branches of the bush. He did not find this species east of the northern end of Great Salt Lake, nor was it seen in the neighborhood of Salt Lake City, where the other species was so abundant.

The eggs of this species differ very essentially from those of the _P. bilineata_. They are oblong in shape, have a light greenish ground, marked all over the egg with very fine dots of a reddish-brown, and around the larger end with a ring of confluent blotches of dark purple and lines of a darker brown, almost black. They measure .80 by .60 of an inch. They resemble very closely a not uncommon variety of the eggs of the _Spizella pusilla_.

Footnotes:

[1] We are indebted to Professor Theodore N. Gill for the present account of the characteristics of the class of Birds as distinguished from other vertebrates, pages XI-XV.

[2] Dr. Coues, in his “Key to North American Birds,” gives an able and extended article on the general characteristics of birds, and on their internal and external anatomy, to which we refer our readers. A paper by Professor E. S. Morse in the “Annals of the New York Lyceum of Natural History” (X, 1869), “On the Carpus and Tarsus of Birds,” is of much scientific value.

[3] Carus and Gerstaecker (Handbuch der Zoologie, 1868, 191) present the following definition of birds as a class:—

Aves. Skin covered wholly or in part with feathers. Anterior pair of limbs, converted into wings, generally used in flight; sometimes rudimentary. Occiput with a single condyle. Jaws encased in horny sheaths, which form a bill; lower jaw of several elements and articulated behind with a distinct quadrate bone attached to the skull. Heart with double auricle and double ventricle. Air-spaces connected to a greater or less extent with the lungs; the skeleton more or less pneumatic. Diaphragm incomplete. Pelvis generally open. Reproduction by eggs, fertilized within the body, and hatched externally, either by incubation or by solar heat; the shells calcareous and hard.

[4] _Methodi naturalis avium disponendarum tentamen._ Stockholm, 1872-73.

[5] This group is insusceptible of definition. The wading birds, as usually allocated, do not possess in common one single character not also to be found in other groups, nor is the collocation of their characters peculiar.

[6] Corresponding closely with the Linnæan and earlier Sundevallian acceptation of the term. Equivalent to the later _Oscines_ of Sundevall.

[7] As remarked by Sundevall, exceptions to the diagnostic pertinence of these two characters of hind claw and wing-coverts taken together are scarcely found. For, in those non-passerine birds, as _Raptores_ and some _Herodiones_, in which the claw is enlarged, the wing-coverts are otherwise disposed; and similarly when, as in many _Pici_ and elsewhere, the coverts are of a passerine character, the feet are highly diverse.

[8] _Laminiplantares_ of Sundevall plus _Alaudidæ_.

[9] _Scutelliplantares_ of Sundevall minus _Alaudidæ_.

[10] Nearly equivalent to the Linnæan _Picæ_. Equal to the late (1873) _Volucres_ of Sundevall.

[11] A polymorphic group, perfectly distinguished from _Passeres_ by the above characters in which, for the most part, it approximates to one or another of the following lower groups, from which, severally, it is distinguished by the inapplicability of the characters noted beyond. My divisions of _Picariæ_ correspond respectively to the _Cypselomorphæ_, _Coccygomorphæ_, and _Celeomorphæ_ of Huxley, from whom many of the characters are borrowed.

[12] Groups G., H., and I. are respectively equal to the _Charadriomorphæ_, _Pelargomorphæ_, and _Geranomorphæ_ of Huxley.

[13] In the true conirostral or fringilliform genera the under mandible has high strong tomia, bent at an angle near the base; the corresponding portion of the upper mandible is deep, so that the nostrils are nearer the culmen than the tomia. The whole bill is more or less bent in its axis from the axis of the cranial base, so that the palate curves down, or is excavated or, as it were, is broken into two planes meeting at an angle,—one plane the anterior hard imperforate roof of the mouth, the other the back palate where the internal nares are situate (Sundevall). The single North American genus of _Tanagridæ_ (_Pyranga_) is here conventionally ranged on account of its high nostrils and conic bill, although it does not show angulation of the tomia. The _Icteridæ_, with obviously angulated tomia, shade into the _Fringillidæ_ in shortness and thickness of bill, and into other families in its length and slenderness.

[14] These two genera, _Psilorhinus_ and _Gymnokitta_, of the family _Corvidæ_, have naked nostrils, as under _dd_, but otherwise show the characters of _Corvidæ_.

[15] With the _Paridæ_ the authors of this work include the Nuthatches as a subfamily _Sittinæ_, which I prefer to dissociate and place as a group of equal grade next to _Certhiidæ_.

[16] In the genus _Ampelis_ and part of the _Vireonidæ_ it is so extremely short as to appear absent, and is displaced, lying concealed outside the second (apparently first) primary, like one of the primary coverts; however, it may always be detected on close examination, differing from the coverts with which it is associated in some points of size and shape, if not also of color.

[17] In _Ampelis_ there is tendency to subdivision of the lateral plates; in _Myiadestes_ the anterior scutella are obsolete.

[18] Excepting _Picoides_, in which the true hind toe (hallux) is wanting; the outer or fourth toe being, however, reversed as usual, and taking the place of the hind toe.

[19] Excepting _Sphyrapicus_, in which the tongue is not more protrusible than in ordinary birds.

[20] Our species falls rather in a restricted family _Aridæ_, as distinguished from _Psittacidæ_ proper.

[21] In a perfectly fresh specimen of _Turdus mustelinus_, the basal half of the first phalanx of the inner toe is connected with the first joint of the middle toe by a membrane which stretches across to within two fifths of the end of the latter; there appears, however, to be no ligamentous adhesion. The basal joint of the outer toe is entirely adherent, and a membrane extends from nearly the basal half of the second joint to the distal end of the first joint of the middle toe. When this connecting membrane becomes dried the division of the toes appears considerably greater.

When the toes are all extended in line with the tarsus, the hind claw stretches a little beyond the lateral and scarcely reaches the base of the middle claw.

The plates at the upper surface of the basal joints of the toes are quadrangular and opposite each other.

[22] See Baird, Review American Birds, I, 1864, 7, 8.

[23] _Harporhynchus ocellatus_, SCLATER, P. Z. S. 1862, p. 18, pl. iii.

[24] _C. ardesiacus_, SALVIN, Ibis, N. S. III, 121, pl. ii.

[25] _C. pallasi_, TEMM. Man. d’Orn. I, p. 177.—SALVIN, Ibis, III, 1867, 119. (_Sturnus cinclus_, var. PALLAS, Zoögr. R.-As. I, 426.)

[26] _S. azurea_, BAIRD, Rev. Am. Birds, 1864, 62. (_S. azurea_, SWAINSON.)

[27] _Parus meridionalis_, SCLATER, P. Z. S. 1856, 293.—BAIRD, Rev. 81.

[28] _Parus sibiricus_, GMEL. S. N. 1788, p. 1013.

[29] This remark applies to the Mexican race.

[30] _N. rufa_, BAIRD. (_Alauda rufa_, GMELIN, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 798.)

[31] _P. bogotensis_, BAIRD. (_Anthus bogotensis_, SCLATER, P. Z. S. 1855, 109, pl. ci.)

[32] _Anthus (Notiocorys) rufus_, BAIRD, Rev. Am. Birds, 1864, 156 (_Alauda rufa_, GM.). _Hab._ Isthmus of Panama.

[33] _Anthus (Pediocorys) bogotensis_, BAIRD, Rev. Am. Birds, 1864, 157 (_Anthus bogotensis_, SCLATER). _Hab._ Ecuador, Colombia.

[34] _Sylvia pitiayumi_, VIEILL. Nouv. Dict. II, 1816, 276. _Parula pit._ SCLAT. Catal. 26, no. 165.—BAIRD, Rev. Am. Birds, I, 1865, 170.

[35] _Parula insularis_, LAWR. Ann. N. Y. Lyc. X, Feb. 1871.

[36] _Parula inornata_, BAIRD, Rev. Am. Birds, I, 1865, 171.

[37] Or if with white markings, the prevailing color yellow, as in _D. pinus_, in which only the adult ♂ has the wing-bands ashy-white.

[38] The wing-formula, though varying among individuals, is nevertheless in a measure characteristic. An average specimen is in each case chosen.

[39] _D. gundlachi_, BAIRD, Review Am. B. I, 1865, 197.

[40] _Dendroica petechia_, BAIRD, Review, 199. (_Motacilla petechia_, LINN. 1766.)

A specimen from Port au Prince is smaller, measuring, wing, 2.50; tail, 2.10; bill, .31; tarsus, .74. It is perhaps lighter green above than Jamaican specimens. These features may only be characteristic of the particular individual.

[41] _D. ruficapilla_, BAIRD, Rev. 201.

A single specimen from Porto Rico differs in some respects from the average of a series from the other islands named. The chief differences are, less thickly streaked throat, and distinct shaft-streaks of dark chestnut on the back. However, one or two specimens of true _ruficapilla_ from St. Thomas have the upper part of the throat streaked, and one of them has the streaks on the back. In all probability other specimens from Porto Rico would be more like typical species of this race as seen in the majority of those from St. Thomas and St. Bartholomew.

[42] _D. aureola_, BAIRD, Rev. 194. (_Sylvicola a._ GOULD, Voyage Beagle, 1841, 86.)

[43] _D. capitalis_, LAWR. Pr. Phila. Acad. 1868, 359. Barbadoes. _Dendroica_, BAIRD, Rev. 201.

[44] _D. vieilloti_, CASSIN, Pr. A. N. S. May, 1860, 192. (Panama, Carthagena.)—BAIRD, Rev. 203.

[45] _D. rufigula_, BAIRD, Rev. p. 204. The habitat as Martinique, W. I., was there queried, but without any reason for so doing other than that this was the locality of Vieillot’s species, with which the type described in Review nearly agreed. Should _Vieillot’s_ species be really from Martinique, in all probability the present bird will be found to be different, and therefore not entitled to the name here given. Provided such is the case, the name “_ruficeps_,” Cabanis, cannot with propriety be used, as under that head he includes specimens from Carthagena (true _vieilloti_), Costa Rica, and Mexico (the latter _bryanti_).

[46] _D. vieilloti_, var. _bryanti_, RIDGWAY.

[47] _Sylvicola eoa_, GOSSE, Birds of Jamaica, 1847, 158; Illustrations Birds Jam. _Dendroica eoa_, BAIRD, Rev. 195. The true position of this species is very uncertain, owing to the imperfect description, or rather the incomplete plumage, of the types. There is no doubt, however, that it is entirely different from any other, and in its having, as expressly stated, the inner webs yellow, thus bringing it into close relation with the “Golden Warblers.”

[48] _D. pharetra_, BAIRD, Rev. 192. (_Sylvicola pharetra_, GOSSE, Birds Jam. 1847, 163.)

[49] _D. adelaidæ_, BAIRD, Rev. April, 1865, 212.

[50] _D. pityophila_, BAIRD, Rev. 208. (_Sylvicola p._ GUNDL. Ann. N. Y. Lyc. Oct. 1855, 160.)

[51] _Dendroica adelaidæ_, BAIRD, Rev. 1865, 212. _Hab._ Porto Rico.

[52] _Geothlypis rostratus_, BRYANT, Pr. Bost. Soc. N. H. March, 1867, 67, Inagua.

[53] _Geothlypis melanops_, BAIRD, Review Am. Birds, I, April, 1865, p. 222.

[54] _Geothlypis æquinoctialis_ (CABANIS), BAIRD, Rev. I, p. 224. (_Motacilla æq._ GMELIN, S. N. I, 1788, 972.)

[55] _Geothlypis velata_ (CABANIS), BAIRD, Rev. I, 223. (_Sylvia vel._ VIEILL. Ois. Am. Sept. II, 1807, 22, pl. lxxiv.)

[56] _Geothlypis poliocephala_, BAIRD, Review Am. Birds, I, April, 1865, p. 225.

[57] _Geothlypis poliocephala_, var. _caninucha_, RIDGWAY.

The _G. speciosa_, SCL. (P. Z. 1858, 447; and BAIRD, Rev. 1864, p. 223), from Mexico, and _G. semiflavus_, SCL. (P. Z. S. 1860, 273, 291.—BAIRD, Rev. I, 1864, 223), from Ecuador, are species allied to _G. trichas_, and possibly referable to it. The original descriptions afford no tangible distinctive characters. It is barely possible, however, that they are distinct.

[58] _Granatellus_, DUBUS. BAIRD, Rev. Am. Birds, 1865, 230. (Type, _G. venustus_, DUBUS.)

[59] Genera _Myioborus_, _Euthlypis_, _Myiothlypis_, _Basileuterus_, _Idiotes_, and _Ergaticus_. All Middle and South America.

[60] _Setophaga picta_ (SWAINSON), BAIRD, Rev. 1865, 256. _Muscicapa leucomus_, GIRAUD, Texas Birds. _Hab._ Mexico and Guatemala.

[61] _Setophaga miniata_ (SWAINSON), BAIRD, Rev. 1865, 256. _Muscicapa derhami_, GIRAUD, Texas Birds. _Hab._ Mexico.

[62] _Hirundo_ (_Callichelidon_) _cyaneoviridis_ (BRYANT), BAIRD, Rev. Am. Birds, 1865, 303. Bahamas. This species may yet be detected on the Florida coast.

[63] _Progne subis_, var. _concolor_. _Hirundo concolor_, GOULD, P. Z. S. 1837, 22 (James I., Galapagos). _Progne c._ BAIRD, Rev. Am. B. 1865, 278. _Progne modesta_, GOULD, Birds Beagle, 39, pl. v. (Same specimen.)

[64] _Progne subis_, var. _furcata_. _Progne furcata_, BAIRD, Rev. Am. B. 1865, 278. (Chile.)

[65] _Progne subis_, var. _elegans_. _Progne elegans_, BAIRD, Rev. Am. B. 1865, 275. (Vermejo River. _? Progne purpurea_, DARWIN, B. Beagle 38 (Montevideo, November), Bahia Blanca, Buenos Ayres, September.)

[66] _Progne_ (_subis_ var?) _dominicensis_. _Hirundo dominicensis_, GM. S. N. I, 1788, 1025. _Progne d._ MARCH, P. A. N. S. 1863, 295; BAIRD, Rev. Am. B. 1865, 279.

[67] _Progne_ (_subis_ var?) _domestica_. _Progne domestica_ (VIEILL.) BAIRD, Rev. Am. B. 1865, 282. (Paraguay and Bolivia.) (_Hirundo domestica_, VIEILL. Nouv. Dict, xiv, 1817, 521.)

[68] _Progne_, (_subis_ var?) _leucogaster_. _Progne leucogaster_, BAIRD, Rev. Am. B. 1865, 280. (Southern Mexico to Carthagena.) _Progne dominicensis_ and _P. chalybea_, AUCH. (nec GMEL.).

From a careful examination of specimens of the above forms, the opinion that they are all local differentiations of one primitive type at once presents itself. The differences from the typical _subis_ are not great, except in the white-bellied group (_dominicensis_ and its allies), while an approach to the white belly of these is plainly to be seen in _P. cryptoleuca_; again, some specimens of _dominicensis_ have the crissum mixed with blackish, while others have it wholly snowy-white. While the male of _cryptoleuca_ is scarcely distinguishable, at first sight, from that of _subis_, the female is entirely different, but, on the other hand, scarcely to be distinguished from that of _dominicensis_ and _leucogaster_. Adult males of the latter species are much like adult females of _dominicensis_, while Floridan (resident) specimens of _subis_ approach very decidedly to the rather unique characters of _elegans_. It is therefore extremely probable that all are merely local modifications of one species.

[69] _C. cyaneoviridis_, BRYANT; BAIRD, Rev. 303 (Bahamas).

[70] _Vireosylvia calidris_, BAIRD, Rev. Am. Birds, 1865, 329. (_Motacilla calidris_, L. Syst. Nat. 10th ed. 1758, 184.)

[71] _V. calidris_ var. _barbadense_, RIDGWAY.

[72] _V. olivacea_ var. _Chivi. Vireosylvia chivi_, BAIRD, Rev. 327. (_Sylvia chivi_, VIEILL. Nouv. Dict. XI, 1817, 174.)

[73] _V. flavoviridis_ var. _agilis_. _Vireosylvia agilis_, BAIRD, Rev. 338. (_Lanius agilis_, LICHT. Verz. Doubl., 1823, no. 526.)

[74] _V. magister_, BAIRD.

[75] _V. gilva_ var. _josephæ_. _Vireosylvia josephæ_, BAIRD, Rev. 1865, 344 (_Vireo josephæ_, SCLATER, P. Z. S. 1859, 137, pl. cliv). Comparing typical examples of this “species” with those of _gilvus_ from North America, they appear very widely different indeed, so far as coloration is concerned, though nearly identical in form. But a specimen from an intermediate locality (54,262, Orizaba, Mexico, F. SUMICHRAST) combines so perfectly all the characters of the two, that it would be impossible to refer it to one or the other as distinct species. It therefore becomes necessary to assume that the _V. josephæ_ is a permanently resident tropical race of a species of which _V. gilvus_ is the northern representative; which theory is strengthened by the fact that of the latter there are no specimens found south of the United States, indicating that in winter it does not pass beyond their limit, or at least not far to the southward.

[76] The Jamaican bird is _V. calidris_, not _barbatulus_. In all probability, however, they do not differ in habits and notes.—R. R.

[77] _Vireosylvia propinqua_, BAIRD, Rev. 1865, p. 348. This appears to be merely a permanent resident race of _solitarius_, which itself visits Guatemala only in winter. Closely resembling the latter, it differs essentially in the respects pointed out above. The difference in coloration is produced by a shifting, as it were, toward the head of the yellow and olive, leaving the upper tail-coverts clear ash, and the lower pure white, and encroaching upon the ash anteriorly to the crown and ear-coverts, and the white alongside of the throat. In the _V. plumbeus_ these tints are simply almost entirely removed, leaving clear ash and pure white, with a tinge, however, of olive on the rump and of yellow on the sides. In _V. cassini_ the tints are darkened and browned by the peculiar influence of the region where found, there being neither clear ash, nor olive-green, nor pure yellow or white, in the plumage.

[78] _Vireo carmioli_, BAIRD, Review Am. B. I, 1865, p. 356. _Hab._ Costa Rica.