Habits. This new species of Bullfinch, having a close resemblance to the P. coccinea of Europe, was obtained by Mr. Dall, near Nulato, Alaska, January 10, 1867. An Indian brought it in alive, but badly wounded, having shot it from a small tree near the fort. He had never seen anything like it before, nor had any of the Russians. Captain Everett Smith had, however, met with several flocks of the same species near Ulukuk. This specimen was a male, with black eyes, feet, and bill, and was the only bird of the kind met with by Mr. Dall.
In size it is about equal to P. coccinea, which is now quite generally considered to be simply a large race of the common Bullfinch (P. vulgaris), and the habits of the American bird are doubtless similar to those of its congeners. The European races inhabit the mountainous regions of Northern and Central Europe, appearing in large flocks in December and January in the more southern regions. In their return in spring to their summer quarters, they move in smaller numbers. They nest in the mountain forests, on trees or bushes. Their nest is usually but a few feet from the ground, is beautifully wrought in a cup shape, made externally of small twigs, blades of grass, and rootlets, lined with coarse hair. They lay five eggs, the ground-color of which shades from a light blue to a bluish or a greenish white, with
brown and violet-colored spots, that usually form a ring around the larger end. Their food is grain and small seeds, and, in spring, the buds of certain trees.
The Bullfinch is a favorite cage-bird, soon reconciled to confinement, and capable of being taught to whistle whole airs of opera music with wonderful exactness and beauty.
Genus CARPODACUS, Kaup.
Carpodacus, Kaup, “Entw. Europ. Thierw. 1829.” (Type, Loxia erythrina, Pall.)
Erythrospiza, Bonaparte, Saggio di una dist. met. 1831.
Hæmorrhous, Swainson, Class. Birds, II, 1837, 295. (Type, Fringilla purpurea, Gmelin.)
Carpodacus frontalis.
796 ♂