318 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 237 past i 



CARPODACUS McGREGORI Anthony 



McGregor's House Finch 



Habits 



This large-billed house finch is characterized by its describer, A. W. 

 Anthony (1897) as "nearest C. amplus but slightly smaller, with more 

 compressed and laterally flattened mandible, longer tail and different 

 coloration ; larger than C. mexicanus frontalis, bill much larger, its 

 lateral outlines viewed from above, parallel for nearly haK the length. 

 Red colors replaced by orange tints." 



He describes the coloration of the adult male as follows: "Above 

 dark olive gray heavily streaked with blackish slate; rump pinkish 

 orange; forehead, superciliary stripe, and malar region orange ver- 

 milion; chin, throat and breast lighter, approaching orange chrome; 

 rest of lower parts whitish, heavily streaked with slaty; wings and 

 tail dusky brown; primaries and tail feathers edged wath whitish; 

 wing-coverts edged and tipped with buffy white." 



Of its habitat on the San Benito Islands off the west coast of 

 Lower Cahfornia, Anthony says: "McGregor's Finch seems to be 

 rather rare but well distributed over the island that we explored, the 

 largest of the group of three. There is very Uttle vegetation on this 

 island, which is little more than a reef less than two (?) miles in ex- 

 tent, and it is rather surprising that a species of this genus should be 

 found there at all." 



Richard C. McGregor (1898), for whom this species was named, 

 writes: 



We found examples of C. mcgregori distributed over the two large Benitos, but 

 on account of their extreme shyness they were difficult to obtain. We were at the 

 islands too late to collect eggs, but I secured three young birds about ready to 

 leave the nest. The parents had constructed their nest about two feet above the 

 ground in a century plant {Agave). It was made after the fashion of C. frontalis, 

 of a miscellaneous lot of bark, twigs, and fibre. The three young are of different 

 sizes, of which the smallest is here described. 



* * * The young plumage differs in coloration but little from that of the adult 

 female. Upper parts heavily marked with clove brown, edges and tips of the 

 feathers cinnamon; lower parts streaked with clove and cinnamon; tertials and 

 rectrices broadly edged and tipped with wood brown. 



One set of four eggs reported by E. N. Harrison from Lower Cali- 

 fornia April 1, measures 20.0 by 15.0, 20.0 by 15.1, 20.1 by 15.5, and 

 19.5 by 15.5 milhmeters. 



Distribution 



Range. — McGregor's house finch is resident on the San Benito 

 Islands and, rarely, on Cedros Island off central western Baja Cali- 

 fornia. 



