BIRDS FKINGILLIDAE — CARPODACUS. 411 



CARPODACUS, Kaup. 



Car;>i)Jo<-iu, Kai'I", "Enlw. Eiirop. Thii>r\v. DSS." Typo Loxia eyijthriixi. Pull. 



Erylhrcsiiiztt, UuNjtrARTE, Saggiu ili una >llst. mot. 1831. 



llatmorrhoui, Swainson, Clara. Birds, 11, 1H37, S95> Typo Fringilla purpurea, Giiiolin. 



Ch. — Bill short, stuut, vaulted ; the culnien dccurvod towards the ond ; the commissure nearly strnight to the slightly dccurvcd 

 end. A slight development of bristly feathers along the t^ides of the hill, concealing the nostrils. Tarsus shorter tlmu tho 

 middle too ; lateral claws reaching to the base of tho middle one. Claw of hind too much curved, smaller than tho middle 

 one, and rather less than the digital portion. Wings long and pointed, reaching to tho middle of tho tail, which is considerably 

 shorter tlian the wing, and moderately forked. Colors red, or red and brown. 



The genus Carpodacv^, incliiding the American purple fincheft, is composed of species, the 

 males of which are more or lesp red in full plumage, while the females are brown. They are 

 spread over North America, and species also occur in considerable numbers in northern Europe 

 and Asia. 



In addition to the generic names mentioned above, there have been proposed for the group 

 Erythrina, Brehm. 1828, pre-occupied in Botany, Enjthrothorax, Brehm, 1831, and Pyrrhulinota, 

 Hodgson, 1844. Should it become necessary to subdivide the genus, there will be no difficulty 

 in finding names already established for the different sections. 



The following diagnoses may serve to distinguish the North American species of Carpodacus. 



A. Tail and wing feathers edged ivith reddish. 



Quite uniformly crimson on the head, neck, breast, and upper parts ; darker across the 

 back. Wing coverts and quill.s margined with reddish. Belly white, faintly streaked 

 with black. First quill longer than fourth G. purpureus. 



Similar to last. Purple of head and rump darker. A liglit purple supraorbital line. 

 First quill shorter than fourth C. californicus. 



Bill very long. Crown continuously crimson ; chin, throat, u|)per part of breast, and rump, 

 rose red. Back grayish brown, streaked conspicuously with dark brown. Belly wliitc^ 

 scarcely streaked C. cassinii. 



B. Tail and wing feathers edged luith grayish lohite. 



Bill short, very convex. Forehead, superciliary stripe, chin, throat, breast, and rump 

 crimson. Back brown, not streaked. Wiugs brown. Belly white, strongly streaked ; 

 outlines of red not very sharply defined (J. frontalis. 



Bill very convex. Forehead, superciliary stripe, chin and tliroat, with rump, all 

 uniform bright crimson. Back dull brown, not streaked. Breast and belly white, 

 much streaked. All the colors very sharply defined C. haemorrhous. 



