Size, small. Bill rather weak and almost concealed by projecting plumes
at its base, strongly curved and sharp. Wings moderate, rounded, with
the third and fourth quills nearly equal and longest; tail moderate,
tarsi short, and with the toes densely clothed with hair-like feathers;
claws rather long, slender, and very sharp. Type N. _Tengmalmii_
(Gmelin).
Nyctale Kirtlandii. Hoy, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Philada., VI. p. 210,
(Dec., 1852.)
Form. Small, but compact, wing with the fourth quill slightly longest,
tarsi and toes fully feathered, claws slender, sharp.
Dimensions of a skin from Dr. Hoy. Male, total length from tip of bill
to end of tail, about 7 inches; wing, 5¼; tail, 3 inches. “Extent of
wings, 16 inches,” (Dr. Hoy.) Female, rather larger.
Colors. Male. Head and upper portion of breast, and entire upper parts
dark chocolate-brown; front and eye-brows white, and a line of the same
color extending downwards from the base of the lower mandible; ear
feathers behind the eye darkest; primaries with white spots on their
outer margins forming three irregular bars, and with circular spots of
white on their inner webs; tail rather darker than the back, narrowly
tipped with white, and having two bands composed of spots of white.
Entire under parts of the body, tarsi and toes, reddish-ochre-yellow;
bill and claws black, iris-yellow.
Hab. State of Wisconsin. Spec. in Mus. Acad. Philada., and in Dr. Hoy’s
coll. Racine, Wisconsin.
Obs. This little Owl is strictly congeneric with _Nyctale Harrisii_
Cassin. Proc. Philada. Acad. IV. p. 157, (Feb. 1849,) and Journal of the
same society, Quarto II., plate V., but different in size and color. _N.
Harrisii_ is the same as _Ciccaba gisella_ Bonaparte, Cons. Av. p. 44,
(1850.)
The present bird also resembles, in some degree, _Strix frontalis_
Lichtenstein, described in a Fauna of California, in Transactions of the
Berlin Academy, 1838, p. 430.
EMBERNAGRA BLANDINGIANA.—(Gambel.)
Blanding’s Finch.
PLATE XII.—Adult Male.
Blanding’s Finch was discovered in the Rocky mountains by Dr. Gambel,
and named by him in honor of one of the most universally respected of
American naturalists and friends of science, William Blanding, M. D.,
formerly a resident of Philadelphia, but now of Providence, Rhode
Island. During many years of previous residence in South Carolina, Dr.
Blanding omitted no opportunity of facilitating by observation and
active exertion in contributing to collections, the advancement of the
interests of Natural Science in all its departments, and he has been
deservedly complimented by naturalists whose studies he has been the
means of promoting, and with whom personally he has for many years
maintained relations of the most friendly character. Many of the
cultivators of Natural History in America owe much to the advice and
encouragement of Dr. Blanding, and among such we gratefully include
ourselves.
This bird belongs to a group of which several species are known to
inhabit Mexico and South America, and of which one other species is a
summer visitor to Texas. All of them are birds of handsome and even
elegant general appearance and color of plumage, and partake much of the
inoffensive habits of other birds of the family to which they belong,
and which includes the Finches and Sparrows. Subsisting for the greater
part on seeds, much of their time is passed on the ground, or in
undergrowths of shrubbery in the immediate vicinity of fields and
meadows, or other grass-bearing localities.
[Illustration: Plate 12
Blanding’s Finch
Embernagra Blandingiana (_Gambel_)]
We regard the present species as the handsomest Bird of the family of
Sparrows yet discovered in the United States, and regret that it is not
in our power to lay before our readers an account of it at all full or
satisfactory, little having been placed on record, or having otherwise
come to our knowledge, beyond the fact that it inhabits sparingly the
Rocky mountains, California and northern Texas. It is probably one of
the many species which migrate in summer to those countries from Mexico,
and even further southward, as is the case with the greater part of the
numerous species of birds which are summer-residents in the eastern
portion of this continent. Not more than three specimens of this bird
have been brought home in the many extensive collections made by the
various naturalists who have visited the countries where it is found,
from which we must necessarily infer at present that it is one of the
rarest of the birds of California and the Rocky mountains, though more
abundant in Texas.
From Dr. Gambel’s paper containing his description of this bird,
published in the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of
Philadelphia, I. p. 260, (April 1843,) and subsequently in the Journal
of the same society, I. p. 51 (Quarto), we extract the following:
“Of this new and singularly marked species, I procured a single specimen
only, in September, on the bank of a small stream in the Rocky
mountains, about half-way between New Mexico and the Colorado of the
West. It kept in low bushes, in company with _Fringilla guttata_, and
_F. graminea_, occasionally uttering a single chirp. The throat and
breast of this species very much resemble those of _Fringilla
Pennsylvanica_.”
Dr. Woodhouse procured, also, one specimen, only, during Capt.
Sitgreaves’ Expedition to the Zuñi, and Colorado rivers, respecting
which he observes: “Whilst encamped on the Rio Salado, near San Antonio,
Texas, in the beginning of April, I procured a solitary specimen of this
beautiful and interesting bird. Its favorite haunts seemed to be the low
bushes in the vicinity of the creek; this was the only one that I
observed east of the Rio Grande. In the Zuni mountain, and in the
vicinity of the _pueblo_ of Zuñi, it was quite abundant.” (Report of an
Expedition down the Zuñi and Colorado rivers, by Capt. L. Sitgreaves, of
the Topographical Engineer Corps, U. S. Army, Washington, 1853. Zoology,
p. 85.)
It was also seen by Dr. Heermann, in California.
Our figure is that of a male, and is about two-thirds of the natural
size.
The plant represented, is _Nuttallia digitata_, a native of California.