_Fringilla psaltria_, SAY, Long’s Exped. R. Mts. II, 1823, 40.—AUD.
Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 85, pl. cccxciv. _Fringilla (Carduelis)
psaltria_, BON. Am. Orn. I, 1825, 54, pl. vi, f. 3. _Carduelis
psaltria_, AUD. Syn. 1839, 117.—IB. Birds Am. III, 1841, 134, pl.
clxxxiii. _Chrysomitris psaltria_, BP. List, 1838.—IB. Consp.
1850, 516.—GAMBEL, Jour. A. N. S. 2d series I, 1847, 52
(female).—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 422.—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 168.
SP. CHAR. _Male._ Upper parts and sides of head and neck olive-green.
Hood, but not sides of head below eyes, lores (or auriculars?), upper
tail-coverts, wings, and tail black. Beneath bright yellow. A band
across the tips of the greater coverts, the ends of nearly all the
quills, the outer edges of the tertiaries, the extreme bases of all
the primaries except the outer two, and a long rectangular patch on
the inner webs of the outer three tail-feathers near the middle,
white. _Female_ with the upper parts generally, and the sides
olive-green; the wings and tail brown, their white marks as in the
male. Length, 4.25; wing, 2.40; tail, 1.85. _Young_ like the female,
but wing-bands more fulvous.
HAB. Southern Rocky Mountains to the coast of California; north to
Salt Lake City (June 19; RIDGWAY), and Siskiyou Co., Cal. (VUILLE);
south to Sonora (Arispe, Feb. 26; E. S. WAKEFIELD).
With quite a small series of specimens, a perfect transition can be
shown from the typical _C. psaltria_, as above described, to the _C.
columbianus_, the opposite extreme (see table, page 471). The former
is the most northern, the latter the most southern form; _arizonæ_ and
_mexicana_, intermediate in habitat, are also as strikingly so in
plumage. The difference is in the _quantity_ of the black, this color
predominating over the olive of the back and the white of wings and
tail, in proportion as we go southward. There cannot, upon the whole,
be any doubt that they are all specifically the same. The females can
scarcely be distinguished.
HABITS. The Arkansas Finch was first discovered in Long’s expedition
to the Rocky Mountains, and described by Say in 1823. It has since
been met with in New Mexico and in various parts of California. Dr.
Cooper did not find this species in the Colorado Valley, although Dr.
Kennerly met with it along Williams Fork, in New Mexico. Dr. Woodhouse
did not see it in his route to the Zuñi River, either in New Mexico or
the Indian Territory.
Dr. Kennerly met with these birds in the month of February. He found
them very abundant all along the banks of the Bill Williams Fork. They
were feeding on the young buds of the cottonwood trees. At that season
they were in small flocks, and the only note he heard from them was a
short chirp, as they hopped from twig to twig, or flew from one tree
to another.
Dr. Heermann states that he found these Finches abundant in the
northern mining regions of California, frequenting and feeding in the
same localities with the _C. lawrencii_, and often associated with the
Pine Finch. He adds that, while thus associated, he shot a large
number of both species. They seemed to be employed, at the time, in
picking out the fine gravel mixed in the mud used as mortar for a
chimney, flying away at each discharge of the gun, but returning, in a
few minutes, to the same place.
Mr. Audubon regarded this species as accidental in Louisiana, having
procured individuals a few miles from Bayou Sara.
The Arkansas Goldfinch was found by Mr. Ridgway among the Wahsatch
Mountains, his attention being at once drawn to it by its curious
notes. He first met with it in “City-Creek Cañon,” near Salt Lake
City, where individuals of it were frequently found mixed in with
flocks of _C. pinus_. The note of this bird is remarkable for its
power and very sad tone. The ordinary note is a plaintive, mellow,
whistling call, impossible to describe, and so inflected as to produce
a very mournful effect. When the bird takes to flight, it is changed
to a simple _cheer_, similar to the anxious notes of the male
_Agelaius phœniceus_, uttered when its nest is disturbed. This species
was quite rare, not being so common as either _C. pinus_ or _C.
tristis_. Its nest was found in Parley’s Park, Wahsatch Mountains,
June 22, in the top of a willow-bush near a stream.
At San Diego, and along the whole coast border of California, Dr.
Cooper thinks that this Finch is rather rare. In the interior valleys
they seem to be quite common. They also breed in small numbers in the
Coast Range, near Santa Cruz. He states that their habits are very
similar to those of the _C. tristis_, though they feed more on the
ground, and more upon weeds than on trees, and are even more
gregarious, remaining associated in flocks up to the first of June.
Their song greatly resembles that of the common Goldfinch, but is much
fainter.
Dr. Cooper never met with their nest, nor has he received any
description of it. Mr. Xantus found one, containing four eggs, on the
branch of an _Obione_, about ten feet from the ground. This was at
Fort Tejon, the first of May. Dr. Canfield has also found their nests,
in considerable numbers, near Monterey. They are built in the forks of
trees, in the same manner with the _tristis_, are structures of
remarkable beauty, and evince great skill in the architects. They
contain usually four or five eggs. Except in size, their eggs greatly
resemble those of the _C. tristis_, being of a uniform greenish-white,
unspotted, of a rounded-oval shape, sharply pointed at one end. They
measure .60 by .50 of an inch.
Chrysomitris psaltria, var. arizonæ, COUES.