PAINTED FINCH.
ence of value on each individual, which converted the sixpence paid for
it at New Orleans to three guineas in London.
The pugnacious habits of this species are common in a great degree
to the whole family of Sparrows. Like the most daring, the Common
House Sparrow of Europe, they may be observed in spring time, in little
groups of four, five or six, fighting together, moving round each other to
secure an advantageous position, pecking and pulling at each other's
feathers with all the violence and animosity to which their small degree
of strength can give effect.
A group thus occupied I have attempted to represent in the plate. I
have at the same time endeavoured to save you the trouble of reading a
long description of the changes which take place in their plumage, from
the time at which the young leave the nest, until the fourth year following,
when the males attain the full beauty of their brilliant livery.
Where in fact would be the necessity of telling you more, than that the
young, during the first summer, are similar in colouring to the female;
that the next spring, the head of the males only has become of a handsome
blue ; that, the spring following, the same bird is mottled more or
less with azure, carmine, yellow and green ; and that it requires another
return of the warm season before all these colours are perfected and rendered
permanent; when at a single glance you can determine all this at
once. Long descriptions of this kind are only fit to be read to the blind.
Colours speak for themselves.
The flight of the Pope, by which name the Creoles of Louisiana
know this bird best, is short, although regular, and performed by a nearly
constant motion of the wings, which is rendered necessary by their concave
form. It hops on the ground, moving forward with ease, now and
then jetting out the tail a little, and, like a true Sparrow, picking up and
carrying off on wing a grain of rice or a crumb of bread to some distance,
where it may eat in more security. It has a sprightly song, often
repeated, which it continues even when closely confined. When the bird
is at liberty, this song is uttered from the top branches of an orangetree,
or those of a common briar, and although not so sonorous as that of
the Canary, or of its nearer relative, the Indigo Bunting, is not far from
equalling either. Its song is continued during the greatest heats of the
day, which is also the case with that of the Indigo Bird.
The nest of this pretty bird is generally placed in a low situation, in
an orange-tree, frequently within a few paces of the house, or far from it
PAINTED FINCH. 281
on the edge of the fences, where briars are convenient. It raises two
broods each season. The eggs are four or five, of a beautiful pearly,
rather bluish colour, speckled with blackish, and are deposited in a simply
constructed nest, lined with fine fibrous roots or horse-hair, and externally
formed of fine grass. They readily breed in confinement, if their
prison is rendered tolerably comfortable. The young are fed at first in
the manner of Canaries, but at the end of ten or twelve days are taught
to swallow grains of rice, insects or berries. No sooner are figs or grapes
ripe than these birds attack them, feeding for some time almost entirely
upon them. Towards evening, they also pursue insects on wing.
Some persons give the name of Nonpareil to this species, but it is
more commonly known by the name of Pape, which, in fact, is a general
appellation given by the inhabitants of Louisiana to all the smaller species
of thick-billed birds.
The Painted Finches do not proceed far eastward, nor, indeed, up
the Mississippi, being seldom seen above the City of Natchez, on that
river, or farther to the east than the Carolinas. It retires southward in
the beginning of October.
The Chickasaw Wild Plum, on a twig of which I have represented a
group of these birds, is found growing abundantly in the country where
the birds occur. It is a small shrub, the fruit of which is yellow when
ripe, and excellent eating.
F B I N G I L L A C I B I S , Ch. Bonaparte, Synopsis of Birds of the United States, p. 107.
E M B E U I Z A C I B I S , Linn. Syst. Nat. vol. p. 313.—Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. i. p. 410.
P A I N T E D B U N T I N G , Lath, Synops. vol. iii. p. 20G.— Wils. Amer. Ornith. vol. iii. p. 08.
PI. xxiv. fig. 1. Male; Fig. 2. Female.
Adult Male, in full plumage. Plate L I I I . Fig 1.
Bill short, robust, corneal, somewhat bulging, straight, acute ; upper
mandible broader, slightly declinate at the tip; gap-line a little declinate
at the base. Nostrils basal, roundish, partly concealed by the frontal
feathers. Head and neck rather large. Body full. Feet of moderate
length; tarsus a little longer than the middle toe; toes free, the lateral
ones nearly equal; claws compressed, arched, acute.
Plumage blended, tufty, somewhat compact on the head and back.
Wings of ordinary length, the third quill longest. Tail shortish, even,
of twelve rounded feathers.