534 GRANIVOROUS BIRDS. 



The Bullfinches possess many of the habits of the Crossbills, to 

 which they are nearly allied ; they subsist on the hardest seeds, from 

 which they separate the husk. Some of the foreign species have 

 exceedingly thick and strong bills, capable of cleaving the most com- 

 pact and woody shells of seeds. Most of the species inhabit cold 

 and temperate c. imates, b v^ng spread through Europe, America, 

 and Northern Asia ; there are a smaller number in Africa, and none 

 in Australia ; some exist also in tropical America. They live in for- 

 ests, building in trees and bushes, and lay 4 or 5 eggs. 



CRIMSON-FRONTED BULLFINCH. 



(JPyrrhula frontalis, Bonap. Am. Orn. i. p. 49. pi. 6. fig. 1. [male] 

 fig. 2. [female]. Frlngilla frontalis, Say, nee. LatH. Phil. 

 Museum, No. 6276-7.) 



Sp. Charact. — Dusky -brownish ; fore part of the head, throat, 

 breast, and rump crimson ; belly whitish, spotted with dusky ; tail 

 nearly even. — Female dusky-brown, the feathers edged with 

 whitish ; no crimson ; beneath whitish, streaked with dusky. 



For this new species we are again indebted to the 

 industry of Mr. Say, who described it in Long's Expedi- 

 tion. It was met with near to the base of the Rocky 

 Mountains, in the month of July, on the plains of the 

 Arkansa, and consequently passes the breeding season in 

 that country, having thus probably a very limited north- 

 ern range. To the South, however, they have since been 

 observed by Mr. Bullock on the table land of Mexico. 

 They live, like the Purple Finch, in small scattered flocks, 

 and were observed to frequent the tops of the cotton- 

 wood poplars (Popidus angulata?), feeding partially on 

 their buds. Their voice is said to resemble that of the 

 preceding bird, but we are not informed of their possess- 

 ing any musical powers. 



This species is about 5^ inches long. The head near the front, 

 neck beneath, and upper portion of the breast crimson, deeper near 

 the bill and over the eye ; cheeks, and space from bill to eyes grey- 

 ish, he occiput, the neck above, and on the sides, brown, with a 



