Western Evening-Grosbeak 325 



c^ Inner secondaries not lengthened ; wing about equal 

 to or shorter than the tail, 

 a^ Tail graduated. 



a* Tail-feathers very narrow and pointed. 



Passerherbulus, p. 360. 

 b" Tail-feathers normal, rounded at ends. 



a' Edge of wing yellow. Peucaea, p. 384. 



b' Edge of wing not yellow. Aimophila, p. 385. 

 b^ Tail forked ; no yellow on wing. Spizella, p. 368. 

 c^ Tail even or slightly roiuided. 



a* Tail black with white edges. Amphispiza, p. 381. 

 b6 Tail not black. 



a' Streaked below. Melospiza, p. 386. 



b' Not streaked below. Zonotrichia, p. 363. 



Genus HESPERIPHONA. 



Large Finches — wing over iO — with a very stout and swollen bill 

 of a greenish tinge, the culmen of which is about equal to the tarsus ; 

 rami of the lower mandible very short, only about one- fifth of the gonys; 

 head not crested ; wings long and pointed, the difference between the 

 primaries and secondaries about twice the length of the tarsus ; tail 

 short, slightly forked, hardly more than half the length of the wing ; 

 tarsus very short. Plumage yellow or grey and black with a white 

 patch on the wing. 



This genus, containing only two species, is confined to North and 

 Central America. One subspecies, differing from the tjrpical eastern 

 form only by its shghtly larger bill, is fovmd in Colorado. 



Western Evening-Grosbeak. 

 HesperipJio7ia vespertina montana. 



A.O.U. Checklist no 514a — Colorado Records — Aiken 72, p. 199 ; 

 Drew 85, p. 15 ; Morrison 89, p. 149 ; Lowe 94, p. 269 ; Cooke 97, pp. 95, 

 169, 211 ; Henderson 03, p. 236 ; 09, p. 235 ; Dille 04, p. 50 ; 09, p. 87; 

 Markman 07, p. 157 ; H. G. Smith 08, p. 187 ; Rockwell 08, 

 p. 170. 



Description. — Male — ^A broad frontal band of yellow ; occiput black, 

 becoming olive-brown on the upper-back, sides of the head and breast, 

 and paling into yellow on the scapulars, rump, lower-breast and 

 abdomen ; wings and upper tail-coverts and tail black, except for the 

 inner greater coverts and inner secondaries, which are white ; leg- 

 feathers black. Iris brown, bill apple-green to pale yellowish-green, 

 legs light brown. Length 6-75; wing 4-30; tail 2-40; culmen -85; 

 tarsus -75. 



