GENERIC CHARACTER.
Bill conic: mandibles receding from each other from the base downwards, the lower with the sides narrowed in; a hard knob within the upper mandible.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER
AND
SYNONYMS.
Head blue, abdomen fulvous, back green, feathers green brown.
Emberiza Ciris: capite cæruleo, abdomine fulvo, dorso-viridi, pennis viridi-fuscis Act. Stockh. 1750 p. 278 t. 7. f. 1.—Linn. Syst. Nat. 1. 179.—Gmel. Syst. 1. p. 885.
Friagilla Tricolor, Catesby Car. 1. p. 44. t. 44. Klein. Av. p. 97. 7.
Chloris ludoviciana, Papa, Briss. 3. p. 200. 58. t. 8. f. 3.
Fringilla Mariposa, Scop. Ann. 1. No. 222.
Le Pepe Buff. 4. p. 176. t. 9.—Pl. Enl. 139. f. 1.
China Bulfinch, Albin. 3. t. 68.
Painted Bunting, Lath. Gen. Syn. 3. p. 206. 54.—Supp. p. 159. Ind. Orn. T. 1. p. 416. 61.
The varieties of the very beautiful species now before us are rather numerous, as may be imagined from its moulting twice in a year, and not arriving, as it is pretty generally believed, at its full state of plumage till nearly the third year. These are the progressive changes of the male bird, and it may be also added, that the female undergoes several mutations of the same kind, as well as the male bird.
When its plumage has attained its full perfection, there are few birds of more striking beauty than the male of this species. Its size is scarcely inferior to that of our common Hedge Sparrow, the length between five and six inches. The head and neck of a fine blue purple, with a circle of red round the eyes. The whole of the underside, including the chin, throat, breast, and abdomen, is a fulvous, or rather a vivid scarlet; the back green, below which is a space of yellow, and the rump scarlet, like the abdomen. The wings are greenish, being shaded with brown, and having the edges of the feathers of a delicate green: the greater wing coverts in our specimen are of a pale rose colour, and which in the general conformation of the plumage constitutes a roseate band across the wings. The tail, like the wings, are brownish, having the edges of each feather green; the bill and legs dark.
In some of the varieties of this bird, occasioned as before observed, through the moulting of the feathers, the blue purple of the head and neck is more generally extended along the back, and sometimes appears in patches upon other parts of the plumage. Sometimes, also, the dark spots that appear upon the scarlet space of the chin, throat, breast, and abdomen, are more diffused, and in other states of moulting the abdomen becomes yellow or yellowish. The abdomen has also, in some instances, been known to change white, leaving only a rounded spot of red upon the breast.
Catesby describes this species as a native of Carolina. It is an inhabitant of all the warmer parts of America, extending from Mexico and Peru, as far as Canada, in the milder seasons of the year. It is rather a hardy bird, insomuch, that some attempts have been made by the Dutch to naturalize the species in Europe, like the Canary; but not, however, with the same success, although they may be kept alive for some time after being brought into the less genial climates of the Continent of Europe.
The celebrated Marmaduke Tunstall, Esq. a most indefatigable Naturalist, who lived towards the latter part of the preceding century, has stated, that two pair of these birds made their nests and laid eggs in the orange trees of a Menagery at Holderness, in Yorkshire, but observes at the same time, the eggs were unproductive. Mr. Tunstall, as a Collector, was the great rival of Sir Ashton Lever, and of authority unquestionable, and this circumstance tends to shew that it might be yet possible to rear these very beautiful birds in this country. Some authors have presumed upon the authority of Albin, that this species extends to China. There can be very little doubt that the figure in the third volume of Albin’s plate, denominated the China Bulfinch, is intended for this bird. Albin assures us that he saw the bird he figured in the possession of a curious gentlemen, who told him he had received it from China.
In the warmer parts of America, which these birds, as before observed, inhabit, they occur sometimes in vast flocks; it does not appear that they are of a shy or timid disposition, yet it is said they are seldom seen near habitable places, and never in any considerable numbers together.
8
London. Published as the Act Directs, by E. Donovan, June 1, 1822.