FRIIS'GILLID^ — THE FINCHES. 505 



frontal blackish patch extending from base of bill (excepting the bristly feathers imme- 

 diately adjacent to it), and reaching somewhat beyond the line of tlie eyes, with con- 

 vex outline behind, and extenaiug less' distinctly on the loral region. Chin and throat 

 darker chestnut, not grayish anteriorly. Body Ijehind dusky ; the feathers of abdomen 

 and flanks washed, and of crissum, rump, and uppei- tail-coverts tipped, with rose-red ; 

 wing-coverts, and to some extent quills, edged with the same; otherwise with white. 

 Bill yellowish, with dusky tip ; feet black. Length before skinning, 6..50 ; extent, 1 1.50. 

 Skin : Length, 6.50 ; wing, 4.30 ; tail, 3.00. 



Young. Pattern of coloration as in the adult of L. tephrncotis ; ash similarly restricted, 

 but with the black frontal patch badly defined. The brown of the plumage, however, is 

 of an entirely different shade from that of adult specimens oi tephrocotis, being of a black- 

 ish-sepia cast, much darker, even, than in griseinucha ; each feather also broadly bordered 

 .terminally with paler, these borders being whitish on the throat and breas^, brownish on 

 the nape and back, and light rose (broadly) on the scapulars. The whole abdomen, 

 flanks, and crissum are nearly continuously peach-blossom pink, which, with that of the 

 lesser and middle wing-coverts and rump, is of a finer and brighter tint than in adults. 

 The other edgings to wings are pale ochraceous ; under side of wing pure white. Bill dull 

 yellow, dusky toward tip. Wing, 4.20; tail, 3.80. (no,G38, Uintah Mountains, Utah, 

 September 20, 1870 ; Dr. F. V. Havden.) 



The young speciuien described was obtained during the summer of 1871 

 in the Uintah Mountains ; and were it not unmistakably a bird of tlie year, 

 it would be considered almost a distinct sjjecies, so different is it from 

 adult specimens of tcjjhrocotis. 



Habits. Of the liistory and habits of tliis well-marked and strikingly 

 peculiar bird, but little is known. It was first described by Swainson from 

 a single specimen, obtained on the Saskatchewan Plains, in May, by Dr. 

 Eicliardson's party. Specimens were afterwards procured in Captain Stans- 

 bury's expedition, near Salt Lake City, Utah, in i\Iarch, 1850. Dr. Hayden 

 found them very abundant on the Laramie Plains during the winter season, 

 and Mr. Pearsall obtained numbers about Fort Benton. Dr. Coojier has also 

 seen one specimen brought from somewhere east of Lake Tahoe, in Washoe, 

 by Mr. F. Gruber. They were said to be plentifid there in the cold winter 

 of 1861-62. Dr. Cooper thinks it probable that they vi.sit the similar 

 country east of the northern Sierra Nevada, in Cahfornia. 



A single flock of wliat is presumed to have been this sjiecies was seen liy 

 Mr. liidgway, on the 5tli of January, in the outskirts of Virginia City, Ne- 



the forehead ; rest of head light chocolate-brown, similar to, but more faded than, that of the 

 winter plumage ; nasal tufts grayish-white. 



Ten specimens collected by Mi-. Allen all agree in the characters pointed out, by which they 

 differ from the winter plumage of L. tephrocotis. Taking into consideration the fact of their 

 black instead of yellowisli bill, more intense red, and generally more dusky colors, as well as 

 the other points of distinction from the previously kno%vn jilumages of L. fephrocotis, and also 

 that they are identical in .size and proportion, while specimens of L. tcphrocolh in the breeding 

 plumage have not before been seen, it seems very reasonable to suppose that these specimens 

 represent the breeding plumage of that species. There is some resemblance to L. bnimieinudui, 

 which, from the plate in Bonaparte and Schlegel's monograph of the Coccothraustince, seems to 

 differ mainly in being lighter colored. Mr. Allen says that these birds were breeding abundantly 

 in the locality where they were found. 

 64 



