WESTERN BIRDS rtocH 



one of these Grosbeaks in southern California would be, 

 indeed, a rare treat. A never-to-be-forgotten dayl 

 Such a pleasure came to the bird students the winter 

 of 1920, which was a most unusual one for birds, many 

 mountain species straying down into the valleys. Among 

 others, these Crossbills were seen in the outskirts of Los 

 Angeles, and other southern sections. 



GENUS LEUCOSTICTE : GRAY- 

 CROWNED ROSY FINCH. 



Gray-Crowned Rosy Finch: Leucosticte tephrocotis 

 tephrocotis. 



FAMILY— FINCHES, SPARROWS, ETC. 



To the west has been given a group of birds that are 

 found nowhere else, and because of their love of high, 

 inaccessible mountain peaks, they give little joy to man- 

 kind. These are the various forms of the Rosy Finch 

 or Leucosticte. 



The chief difference in the plumage of the birds of 

 this genus is in the head, the body feathers being quite 

 similar. The birds are about six and one-half inches 

 long and the body is a rich brown; upper and under tail 

 coverts, rump and flanks, and fore part of wings are of 

 varying shades of pink. In the Gray-crowned the top 

 of head is dark gray and the nape a lighter gray. 



The home of this bird is in the high mountains above 

 timber line from east-central Alaska to western Alberta, 

 also on the White Mountain and the southern Sierras of 

 east-central California, straying during the winter to 

 lower altitudes in Colorado, California and east on the 

 Plains to Nebraska. 



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