64 SAVANNAH FINCH.
push-brown. Some eggs have a broadish circle of these spots near the
large end, while the extremity itself is without any markings. It generally
breeds twice every season in the Middle States, but never more
than once to the eastward of Massachusetts. While searching for the
nests of this and many other species, I observed that the artifices used by
the female to draw intruders away, are seldom if ever practised until after
incubation has commenced.
Although this little Finch cannot be said to have a song, it is yet
continually pouring out its notes. You see it perched on a fence rail, the
top of a stone, or a tall grass or bush, mimicking as it were the sounds
of the Common Cricket. Indeed, when out of sight of the performer,
one might readily imagine it was that insect he heard. During winter,
it now and then repeats a cheep, which, although more sonorous, is not
more musical. In spring, when disturbed and forced from its perch, it
flies quite low over the ground in a whirring manner, and re-alights
as soon as an opportunity offers.
Like all the other land-birds that resort to Labrador in summer, it
returns from that country early in September.
FRINGILLA SAVANNA, Bonaparte, Synops. of Birds of the United States, p. 109.
SAVANNAH FINCH, FRINGILLA SAVANNA, Wils. Amer. Ornith. voL iv. p. 72. PI. 3 4 .
fig. 4 , Male; and vol. iii. p. 5 5 . PI. 22. fig. 3 , Female.—Nuttall, Manual, vol. i.
p. 489.
Adult Male. Plate CIX. Fig. 1.
Bill short, conical, acute; upper mandible straight in its dorsal outline,
rounded on the sides, as is the lower, which has the edges sharp and
inflected ; the gap line straight, not extending to beneath the eye. Nostrils
basal, roundish, open, concealed by the feathers. Head rather large.
Neck short. Legs of moderate length, slender; tarsus longer than the
middle toe, covered anteriorly with a few longish scutella; toes scutellate
above, free, the lateral ones nearly equal; claws slender, compressed,
acute, slightly arched ; that of the hind toe a little larger.
Plumage soft and blended. Wings shortish, curved, rounded, the
third and fourth quills longest. Tail short, emarginate.
Bill pale-brown beneath, dusky above. Iris brown. Feet light fleshcolour.
Cheeks and space over the eye light citron-yellow. The general
colour of the plumage above is pale reddish-brown, spotted with brownishblack,
the edges of the feathers being of the former colour. The lower
SAVANNAH FINCH. 65
parts are white, the breast marked with small deep brown spots, the sides
with long streaks of the same.
Length 5 | inches ; extent of wings 8£; bill along the ridge 1
5
S i along
the gap ; tarsus {§.
Adult Female. Plate CIX. Fig. %
The Female resembles the Male, the tints of the plumage being mi rely
a little lighter.
Length l5f inches; extent of wings 8£.
THE INDIAN PINK-ROOT OR WORM-GRASS.
SPIGELIA MARII,ANDICA, Pursh, Fl. Amer. Sept. vol. i. p. 139.—PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA,
Linn. APOCYNEJE, Juss. Fig. 1. of the Plate.
Stem tetragonal, all the leaves opposite, ovate, acuminate. Perennial.
This plant grows in damp meadows, along rivulets, and even in
the depth of the woods. It is abundant in Kentucky, as well as on the
eastern ranges of the Alleghany Mountains, even to the vicinity of the
Atlantic. Its rich carmine flowers have no scent.
PHLOX ARISTATA, Mich. Fl. Amer. vol. 1. p. 144.—Pursh, Fl. Amer. Sept. vol. i.
p. 150.—PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA, Linn. POLEMONIA, Juss. Fig. 2. of the
Plate.
See vol. i. p. 361.
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VOL. II.