Hepburn's Rose-Finch 337 



together in an empty lot in Canon City, on April 2Gth, 

 1874. He secured very large numbers of specimens, 

 and there are still in the Aiken collection forty-seven 

 examples of this species, fifteen of L. t. littoralis, and 

 some forty-two of L. australis. I have seen large flocks 

 of this and other species of the genus on grassy slopes 

 of the Mesa, near Colorado Springs, in the middle of 

 December, after a bad storm in the mountains ; the 

 flocks are very large and the birds keep very close 

 together, almost like a swarm of locusts. 



Its nest and eggs have recently been discovered on 

 Pyramid Peak, Eldorado co., California, by Milton S. 

 Ray and others ("Condor," XII., 1910, p. 147). 



Hepburn's Rose-Finch. Levcosticte tephrocotis littoralis. 



A.O.U. Checklist no 524a — Colorado Records — Baird 70, p. 163 

 (L. campestris) ; Ridgway 75, p. 74 ; Drew 85, p. 16 ; Morrison 89, p. 149 ; 

 Cooke 97, pp. 98, 212 ; Henderson 09, p. 235. rv:i 



Description. — Closely resembling L. tephrocotis, but the grey of|the 

 sides of the head extending downwards over the ear-coverts and cheeks 

 and in some cases clear across the throat. Length 6-25 ; wing 4-10 ; 

 tail 2-60; culmen -40; tarsus 07. 



The female is slightly smaller (wing 3 -9), and as a rule paler, the 

 pink wash, on the flanks especially, of a paler tinge. 



Distribution. — The mountains of western North America, believed 

 to breed in the mountains of southern Alaska and perhaps southwards 

 to Washington and Oregon ; in winter along the Pacific coast and 

 eastwards to Nevada, Utah and Colorado. 



This subspecies is only a winter bird in Colorado and is normally only 

 found in the mountains, unless driven down to lower levels by heavy 

 storms ; it is not so often met with as the Grey-crowned, and may b& 

 considered quite a scarce bird. Morrison states that it is more common 

 on the western slope of the range, though I do not know on what 

 authority. There are examples in the Aiken collection taken close to 

 Colorado Springs in March, 1874, and in January, 1879, and a number 

 taken at Canon City, 20th April, 1874, on the occasion alluded to, vmder 

 L. tephrocotis. It has also been observed by Carter at Breckenridge 

 and by Dennis Gale at Gold Hill, Boulder co., where is winters. Warren 

 informs me he has taken it at Lake Moraine, on the slopes of Pikes 

 Peak, 10,250 feet, in December, associated in flocks with the other 



