350 "CS. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 23 7 paet i 



LEUCOSTICTE TEPHROCOTIS GRISEONUCHA (Bramlt) 



Aleutian Rosy Finch 



Habits 



From the tip of the Alaska Peninsula westward, we found these 

 large and handsome rosy finches generally distributed on all the is- 

 lands we visited, as far west as Attu Island. They were breeding 

 mainly in the crevices in the almost inaccessible rocky cliffs or among 

 the loose rocks on the summits, but resorting to the shores and snow 

 banks for feeding. Other rosy finches that breed inland and farther 

 south make their summer homes in the alpine zones above timberline 

 in the moim tains. But there is no timberline in the treeless Aleutians, 

 and these rosy finches find congenial summer homes from sea level up 

 to the summits. 



The Aleutian rosy finch breeds from the Commander Islands east- 

 ward to the western part of the Alaska Peninsula and in the Shuma- 

 gin Islands; it wanders in winter eastward to Kodiak Island. A new 

 name has been given to the rosy finches that breed on the Pribilof 

 Islands and St. Matthew Island, farther north in the Bering Sea. 



Stejneger (1885) says of the haunts of this finch in the Commander 

 Islands: 



Copper Island, being one mass of rugged and cracked rocks and cliffs, with 

 steep, often quite perpendicular, walls jutting up straight out of the ocean, is the 

 favorite haunt of these stone-loving birds, which may be said to be fairly common 

 on that island, occurring in pairs around the whole isle during the breeding 

 season. * * * 



The "Aleutian Rosy Finch" delights especially in steep and high rocks, espe- 

 cially close to the sea and inaccessible to any other beings than those provided 

 with wings. In fact, I do not think that a single pair breeds in interior of the 

 islands, but after the young are out, the whole family will often move inland, 

 following the rivulets up to the backbone of the mountains in the search for 

 insects. 



Nesting. — We did not succeed in finding a nest with eggs, but Wet- 

 more found a nest on Kiska Island on June 18, containing two fully 

 fledged young; it was in a crevice in the rocks in an almost inaccessible 

 place on the face of a cliff. Though the birds evidently had nests 

 among the rocks on the summits, they were too well hidden for us to 

 find them. 



Dall (1873) reports: "On the 24th of May we found a nest, situated 

 in a crevice of a rocky bank on the shore of Captain's Harbor, Una- 

 lashka. It was of grass, very neatly sewed together, and lined with 

 fine grass and a few feathers. It contained five white eggs in fresh 

 condition, and was about twelve feet above the beach." 



Eggs. — This species lays from three to six ovate eggs, with five 



