Redpoll 341 



Description. — Male in winter — General colour buffy-brown, streaked 

 with dusky brown ; front half of crown rich crimson-red ; rump 

 whitish, streaked with dusky, sometimes with a wash of pink ; wing3 

 and tail dusky black, edged with whitish ; middle and greater coverts 

 tipped with white, forming a double wing-band ; below the throat 

 dusky black, the breast washed with pale pink, the rest of the under- 

 parts white, streaked with dusky, black on the flanks and under tail- 

 coverts ; iris dark ; bill pale horn with black tip. Length 4-75 ; wing 

 3 ; tail 2-25 ; culmen -32 ; tarsus -60. 



The male in breeding plumage is darker on the back, and the pink 

 of the chest is richer and darker ; the biU is darker horn. The female 

 closely resembles the male, but has no pink (except the crimson crown) ; 

 gome apparently adult males are indistinguishable in plumage from 

 the females ; the young bird has no red on the crown, though in 

 the first winter it resembles the adult in this respect. 



Distribution. — Breeding in the more northern parts of both 

 heruispheres ; in America breeding south to the St. Lawrence 

 and perhaps Minnesota ; in winter to the more northern parts of 

 the United States and irregularly as far south as Alabama and 

 California. 



In Colorado the Redpoll is a winter bird, chiefly met with in the 

 mountains and more common in the northern part of the State. It 

 arrives in October or November from the north (Gold Hill, November 

 15th, D. Gale), and departs again in March or April (Fremont co., 

 April 25th, Aiken), and is found as high as Lake Moraine on the slopes 

 of Pikes Peak (10,250 feet, December, Warren). Other recorded 

 localities are Breckenridge (Carter), Colorado Springs, December and 

 January (Aiken), near Crested Butte, October 21st, Sulphur Springs 

 April, and Coventry in winter (Warren), Sahda, January 2nd (Frey), 

 San Juan co. (Drew). That it occasionally winters in the plains has 

 recently been shown by Warren, who saw several at Orchard, March 

 26th and 28th, and was informed by a resident that they had 

 wintered there, while Hersey and Rockwell state that it is a common 

 winter bird at Barr. 



Habits. — Like other Finches, the Redpoll is generally 

 in flocks of considerable size in winter time, and appears 

 to be quite contented at the lowest temperatures ; it 

 feeds chiefly on grass seeds and buds, and is a great 

 favourite in more northern states, where it is a regular 

 and common bird, and comes to houses to pick up crumbs 

 and scraps. It is not often seen at low levels in Colorado 

 except after a storm. 



