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U. S. p. R. R EXP AND SURVEYS ZOOLOGY — GENERAL REPORT. 



PYRKHULOXIA SINUATA, B o n a p . 



Cardinalis sinuatus, Bp. Pr. Zool. Soc. Lond. V, 1837, 111. (Mexico.)— Lawrence, Ann. N. Y. Lye. V, 1851,116.— 



Cassin, Illust. I, VII, 1854, 204 ; pi. xxxiii. 

 Pyrrliuloxia sinuala, Bon. Consp. 1850, 500. 



Sp. Ch. — Head with an elongated, pointed crest, springing from the crown. Upper parts generally pale ashy brown ; hood, 

 sides of neck, and under parts of body, rather paler. Long crest featliers, bill all round including lores and encircling tlie 

 eye, wing and tail darli crimson. Chin and upper part of throat, breast, and median line of the belly, under tail coverts, 

 tibia, edge and inner coverts of the wings, briglit carmine red. Bill yellowish. 



Female similar with the under part brownish yellow ; middle of belly and throat only tinged with red. 



Length about 8..50 ; wing, 3.75 ; tail, 4.50. 



Hab. — Valley of the Rio Grande of Texas. 



In this species the hill is very short and greatly curved, much higher than long. The upper 

 outline almost forms the quadrant of a circle, the commissural outline abruptly bent at an 

 angle of about sixty degrees in its middle. In this respect it differs greatly from Cardinalis 

 virginianns, in which the bill is much longer, straighter, and witli the angle of the commis- 

 sural outline much further back. 



The wing is considerably rounded, the fourth and fifth quills longest; the first as long as the 

 secondaries, the second longer than the seventh. The tail is long, graduated on the sides ; the 

 outer about half an inch shorter than the middle. The feathers are very broad to the end and 

 obliquely truncate. They are rather broader than in Cardinalis virginianus. The crest is 

 narrower and longer, confined to the middle of the crown; it extends back about 1.80 inches 

 from the base of the bill. 



The carmine of the breast is somewhat hidden by grayish tips to the feathers ; that of the 

 throat is streaked a little with darker. The exposed surfaces of the wing coverts and of second- 

 aries and tertials are like the back. The tail feathers are tipped with brownish. 



List of specimens. 



CARDINALIS, Bonaparte. 



Cardinalis, Bonaparte, Saggio di una distribuzione metod. dei Aiiimagli Vertebrati, 1831, (Agassiz). Type 

 Loxia cardinalis, Liim 



C, Bill enormously large; culmen very slightly curved, commissure siniiatcd ; lower jaw broader than the length of 



the Bonys, considerably wider than the upper jaw, about as deep as the latter. Tarsi longer than middle loo ; outer too 

 rather the longer, reaching a little beyond the base of the middle one ; hind too not so long. Wings moderate, reaching over 

 the basal third of the exposed part of the tail. Four outer quills graduated; the first equal to the secondaries. Tail long, 

 decidedly longer than the wings, considerably graduated ; feathers broad, truncated a little obliquely at the end, the corners 

 rounded. Colors red. Head crested. 



