378 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 23 7 paRT i 



abdomen and sides, while it sometimes invades the breast, or even 

 sometimes the throat and cheeks." In the adult female in summer, he 

 says, the prevailing color is "pale grayish-brown-umber, the pileum 

 hardly appreciably different, and the forehead scarcely inclining to 

 black; red markings almost obsolete, and distinctly indicated only 

 on the lesser wing coverts and rump; greater coverts, remiges, and 

 rectrices skirted with whitish ; abdomen scarcely tinged with red * * *. 



"In midsummer [June and July], the pale margins of the crown 

 and grayish brown of the plumage wear off, so it becomes more uni- 

 form, while the red of the male is heightened into an intense crimson, 

 or harsh carmine tint." 



A. W. Anthony (1887) describes the adult male in winter (Jan- 

 uary) thus: 



Pileum grayish black, darkest anteriorly, slightly paling to grayish on occiput; 

 lores dull blackish; nasal plumes white. General color above and below light 

 umber-brown, tending to chocolate on the chin and throat. Feathers of the 

 back with darker shaft-lines and paler edges; those of the breast but slightly 

 tipped with whitish. Hinder parts of the body, above and below, rich carmine- 

 red; primaries, outer four secondaries, second, third, fourth and fifth rectrices 

 edged, and lesser wing-coverts broadly tipped with same color. Wings and tail 

 blackish, all of the primaries and secondaries broadly, and median pair of rec- 

 trices slightly, edged with dull white. Lining of wings white, edged with rosy. 



The female in winter is similar to the male in general color, but 

 paler, and varies considerably. The rosy hues are usually very 

 faint and may be almost entirely absent. 



The immature male closely resembles the adult, the principal 

 difference being that the greater wing coverts are edged with whitish 

 in summer and with buffy in winter. 



The Juvenal plumage is generally grayish-brown, the crown being 

 dull grayish-black with gray edges on the feathers, the sides of the 

 head and neck grayish-brown darkening on the chin and throat. 

 The lower parts are light brown anteriorly, each feather edged with 

 whitish, the abdominal feathers light dusky, with pinkish and whitish 

 edges. The back is dull brown, the upper tail coverts and lesser 

 wing coverts with rosy markings, the wings and tail blackish. 



In winter the bill is yellow, tipped with black. In early March 

 the yellow becomes clouded with dusky horn color, and it darkens 

 progressively through April and May until by June it is intense black. 

 The feet are black at all times. 



Field marks. — Rosy finches are rather chunky, sparrowlike ground 

 birds that look darker than the other ground finches of the region. 

 The brown-capped rosy finch lacks the distinct gray area on the crown 

 common to the other leucostictes, and the general coloration is lighter 

 brown and duller. The rosy feathers of the adult male are bright, 

 especially in midsummer, and often extend forward to the breast or 



