Chrysomitris mexicana, var. arizonæ, Coues, P. A. N. S. 1866.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 170.
Sp. Char. (♂ 37,092, Fort Wingate, Arizona, June 28, 1864.) Above, including auriculars, glossy black, with a faint bluish reflection; nape, back, and rump much mixed with olive-green, this rather predominating; larger coverts broadly tipped with grayish-white; tertials, with almost the entire exposed portion of the outer webs, white; a patch on base of primaries, and the inner webs of the tail-feathers, except the ends, white. Beneath entirely lemon-yellow. Wing, 2.50; tail, 1.70; culmen, .35; tarsus, .50.
Hab. Southern boundary of Arizona and New Mexico, extending southward into Mexico, and gradually changing into mexicana, and northward into psaltria.
The specimen described above is from a series collected in Arizona by Dr. Coues: these examples vary in the relative amount of black and olive on the back, some having one, and others the other color predominating; the type selected is one which represents about the average plumage of this species from Arizona.
Habits. Dr. Coues found these birds abundant summer residents of Arizona, where they are said to arrive the last of April and to remain until the middle of September. In August the males are stated to assume the dull plumage of the females. In autumn they become decidedly gregarious, and feed almost exclusively upon buds and seeds. He thinks they are not so numerous in the southern portions of the Territory. In a letter received from him he remarks:—
“This bird was found to be common in New Mexico near Fort Wingate, at the eastern base of the main chain of mountains. I first observed it on the 28th of June, when I found quite a number together, and secured several
specimens. They were in small troops on a rugged hillside covered with a sparse growth of junipers and stunted pines, feeding in company with the Poospiza bilineata. Judging from their actions, and from the fact that none but males were taken, I presume they were breeding in the vicinity. I found some difficulty in securing specimens, partly owing to the broken nature of the locality, and partly to the birds’ timidity in the unaccustomed presence of man. Those that were shot were all found to have the æsophagus as well as the gizzard crammed with seeds. They constantly uttered a plaintive lisping whistle as they gathered food, or as they flew from one tree to another, but their song did not strike my ear as precisely the same as that of the Goldfinch. These specimens were all in what I take to be perfect plumage, although the back was mixed with olive and black in nearly equal proportions, and the black of the pileum did not reach below the eyes to cut off the yellow under eyelid from the other yellowish parts of the head; thus closely resembling true psaltria.
“Upon my arrival at Fort Whipple in July, I found birds of this type abundant, and took a good many during the two following months, when they disappeared, and I saw none until about the first of May. A small ravine close by the fort, choked with a rank growth of weeds, was a favorite resort; there the birds could be found at nearly all times in season, in large troops, feeding in company with Chipping Sparrows, and the Spizella atrigularis. They were very tame during the latter part of the summer, would only rise when very closely approached, when they flew in a hesitating manner a short distance, and then pitched down again among the weeds to resume their busy search for food. In their undulating flight they utter their peculiar note, generally with each impulse of the wings, and keep up a continual chirping when feeding; but I did not hear their true song at this season. Some of the specimens taken were very young birds, and the species unquestionably breeds here, although I never succeeded in finding a nest.
“I should not omit to add, that whilst at Santa Fé, New Mexico, I saw caged birds that were thriving well, and apparently reconciled to confinement.”
A nest of this bird, obtained near Camp Grant, Arizona, by Dr. Palmer, is a flat and shallow structure, having a diameter of three inches, and a height of one and a quarter. The cavity is only a slight depression. This nest is made of a felting of various materials, chiefly the cotton-like down of the cottonwood-tree and other soft vegetable matter, fine stems of grasses, fragments of mosses, and various other similar materials, lined with finer materials of the same. Except in their slightly smaller size, the eggs are not distinguishably different from the preceding.