Plate CCCXCVIII. Fig. 1. Male. Plate CCCCXXIV. Fig. 1.
Female.
Male with the head, neck, and upper parts, light greenish-blue, the
fore part of the back duller; loral space black; wings and tail dusky,
the feathers margined with blue; two white bands on the wing; on the
fore part of the breast a broad band of yellowish-red, the rest of the
lower parts white. Female with the upper parts light yellowish-brown,
the rump greenish-blue; fore parts pale yellowish-red, fading behind
into white.
_Male_, 5-1/2; wing, 3-1/12.
From the Arkansas to the Columbia River. Never seen near the Atlantic
coast. Plentiful. Migratory.
Emberiza amœna, Say, Long's Exped.
Lazuli Finch, Fringilla amœna, Bonap. Amer. Orn. v. i. p.
61.
Fringilla amœna, Bonap. Syn. p. 106.
Lazuli Finch, Nutt. Man. v. i. p. 478.
Lazuli Finch, Fringilla amœna, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. v. p. 64,
and p. 230.
GENUS V. AMMODRAMUS, Swains. SHORE-FINCH.
Bill rather long, being little shorter than the head, rather slender,
straight, considerably compressed, acute; upper mandible with the
dorsal line considerably convex, the ridge narrow, the sides convex,
the edges inflected, with a slight festoon about the middle, and a
faint notch, close to the tip, which is deflected and acute; lower
mandible with the angle short and rounded, the dorsal line ascending
and straight, the ridge rounded, the sides convex, the edges involute,
the tip acute. Nostrils small, elliptical, basal, partially concealed
by the plumage. Head ovate; neck short; body slender. Tarsus rather
short, stoutish, compressed, with seven scutella; toes rather long,
hind toe large, outer shorter than inner, and adherent at the base.
Claws long, slender, little arched, much compressed, laterally
grooved, tapering to a fine point. Plumage soft and blended, with the
filaments stiffish and disunited. No bristles. Wings short, convex,
rounded, the second, third, and fourth quills longest, the first
considerably shorter. Tail of moderate length, graduated, slender, of
twelve narrow, acuminate feathers. No difference in the colours of the
sexes.