(♀ 58,590, Salt Lake City, June 21, 1869.) Similar, but red entirely absent, the throat and jugulum being white streaked with brown, and the front, rump, etc., grayish, obsoletely streaked with darker. Wing, 3.00; tail, 2.40.
(Juv. 40,799, Fort Whipple, Arizona, June 5, 1865.) Generally similar to the ad. ♀, but more brownish, and the wing-feathers passing into dull buffy-ochraceous on their edges; streaks beneath narrower and less distinct.
In winter the red is softer and less sharply defined, and usually of a more purplish tint; the markings generally more blended.
Hab. Middle Province of the United States, from Rocky Mountains to the interior valleys of California.
Habits. This form of the House Finch appears to be a very common bird throughout the interior region of the United States, extending to New Mexico and Arizona on the south and southeast, and probably to Mexico. On the Pacific coast it is replaced by another and closely allied variety.
Dr. Woodhouse states that his attention was first called to this interesting little songster while at Sante Fé. It was there known to the American residents as the “Adobe Finch.” By the Mexicans they were called Buriones. He found them exceedingly tame, building about the dwellings, churches, and other buildings, in every nook and corner, and even entering the houses to pick up crumbs. They are never disturbed by the inhabitants. He adds that at the first dawn of the morning they commence a very sweet and clear warble, which he was quite unable to do justice to by any verbal description. He has often in the early morning listened with admiration and gratification to the song of this bird, which is deservedly a great favorite. He found it throughout New Mexico, and beyond. He did not distinguish it from the coast variety.
Dr. Coues also found this bird very abundant in Arizona, where it is a permanent resident, but most abundant in spring and fall. He describes it as eminently gregarious. He found it in all situations, but most common in the spring among the groves of willows and poplars, on the buds of which it feeds. He met with this species all the way from the Rio Grande through New Mexico and Arizona to California, and appears to have noted no differences between this form and the coast variety. He also mentions finding, during a few days’ stay in the New Mexican village of Los Pinos, near Alberquerque, on the Rio Grande, this pretty little Finch the most common and characteristic of the local birds. It was there breeding indifferently in the courtyards, sheds, under porticos or eaves, and also in the forks of trees in the streets. It had sharp conflicts with the Barn Swallows, whose nests it
often took possession of, and was a lively and most agreeable feature in the dirty towns which it honored with its presence; and its songs were at once sweet, clear, and exquisitely melodious.
Dr. Cooper met with these birds among the barren and rocky hills near the Colorado.
Mr. Ridgway, who found these birds breeding in large numbers at Pyramid Lake, informs me that their nests were usually placed in clefts in rocks, or in a cave. Near Salt Lake City they were also very common, building their nests among the shrubs known as the wild mahogany, on the hills, but never frequenting the higher regions of the mountains.