BROWN-CAPPED ROSY FINCH 377 



nesting sites have been taken, but the sunless crevices and caves are 

 extremely chilly, even though protected from direct winds, Tricldes 

 of water running down the surface of the rocks near the nests fre- 

 quently freeze at night. The young remain in the nest about 18 

 days and are fed by both parents, often at the same time. The 

 parent not on the nest at night roosts in a crevice nearby. The 

 adults show little fear of man at this time. They frequently flew 

 within 6 feet of Niedrach while he was taking motion pictures of 

 them feeding their young. When the nestlings are half grown, they 

 emit a continuous loud chirping which carries a long distance 

 and helps locate the nest sites. The fledged young are fed on the 

 ground until they are able to forage for themselves, and remain with 

 the parents during August and at the least, into September, forming 

 family groups on the alpine tundra. 



Plumages. — The brown-capped rosy finch differs from all other 

 leucostictes in lacking distinct or clear gray markings on the head, 

 Ridgway (1901) writes: "* * * there is a quite well defined area cov- 

 ering exactly the same parts of the pileum as in L. tephrocotis tephrocotis 

 and L. atrata, that is differently colored from the contiguous parts, 

 but instead of this area being clear and perfectly uniform light ash gray 

 the feathers are dusky brownish gray centrally, margined with light 

 brownish gray, producing a more or less squamate or scale-like 

 appearance; furthermore, the brown color which borders this some- 

 what grayish area is decidedly lighter and duller, or less rufescent than 

 in L. tephrocotis." 



Of the several leucostictes, only L. atrata and L. aiLstralis show 

 striking sexual color variation, and in L. australis there are also 

 marked differences between the summer and winter plumages of each 

 sex. Ridgway (1901) describes the adult male in summer as follows: 



Pileum dusky grayish brown, becoming nearly or quite black on forehead; 

 nasal tufts whitish; rest of head, together with neck, chest, and breast, deep 

 cinnamon-brown or dull russet, deepest on throat, where often, as on chest and 

 breast also, tinged or flecked with bright red; hindneck, back and scapulars 

 similar, but duller * * *, with narrow, more or less indistinct, shaft-streaks of 

 dusky; feathers of rump and upper tail-coverts broadly and abruptly tipped with 

 peach-blossom pink; the remaining portion of the feathers grayish brown * * *; 

 sides, flanks, and abdomen mostly carmine-pink * * *; under tail-coverts 

 deep grayish brown or dusky centrally, broadly and abruptly margined with 

 pink and white; wings dusky, with lesser and middle coverts broadly tipped 

 with peach-blossom pink, the greater and primary coverts and remiges edged 

 with the same — the color very bright, almost scarlet, on the wing-coverts 

 in some midsummer specimens; tail dusky, edged with pale brownish gray and 

 pinkish; bill and feet black. 



In his monograph on the genus Leucosticte (1875), he adds: "In 

 the male, the red of the lower parts extends much farther forward than 

 in the other forms, always covering pretty uniformly the entu-e 



