FRINGllLID.E: FINCHES, BUNTINGS, SPARIIOWS. 383 



Mountains ; S. to table lauds of Mexico. Habits tbe same as those of the common Purple 

 Finch ; eggs ntit fairly distinguishable. 



C. mexica'nus frontalis. (Lat. mexicanus, Mexican; fro )i talis, pertaining to tlie front.) 

 Crimson-fronted Finch. House Finch. Burion. Adult J : Grayish-brown above, 

 somewhat varied with darker centres and paler edges of the feathers, and for the most part 

 tinged with red. Below dull white, streaked with dark brown, often tinged with red. Fore 

 part of crown, superciliary line, rump, throat, breast, and sometimes side of head, crimson. 

 Wings and tail dark brown, with narrow pale edgings. Bill dusky-brown above, paler below ; 

 feet and eyes brown. Length about 6.00 ; extent scarcely 10.00 ; wing 3.00 ; tail 2.50, 

 scarcely forked ; tarsus 0.67 ; bill 0.40, very turgid, almost as in Pinicola or Pyrrhula. 9 • 

 Like ^, but without any red ; upper parts more varied with darker centres and paler edges of 

 the feathers, and entire under parts streaked like belly of ^. Young ^ resembles 9) but at 

 an early age is browner, and apt to have buffy edgings of the wings. Colors of adult ^ as 

 variable as those of purpureus or more so. In winter, the red less intense and more difi'use, 

 and may have a rosy or purplish tint, or be interrupted with grayish edgings of the feathers. 

 Generally in the Colorado Valley, where the typical form is developed, the red is restricted to 

 the parts said, but the constant tendency is to spread ; the back and belly have usually in fact 

 a tinge of red, and in some cases the whole head and fore parts are thus encrimsoiied. U. S., 

 rather southerly, from the Kocky Mts. to Oregon and California; western Texas, Colorado, 

 Utah, Nevada, Arizona, western Kansas, New Mexico, and northern Mexico; familiar as a 

 Swallow or Chip-bird, nesting in streets and gardens, where its bright colors, hearty song, and 

 sprightly ways make it a welcome visitor. Nesting like that of the Purple Finch in essential 

 particulars; eggs smaller, paler, and of more fugitive bluish tint, with the blackish sprinkling 

 sparser ; size 0.68 X 0.60 to 0.75 X 0.54. C. frontalis of earlier eds. of the Key, lately as- 

 certained to intergrade with C. mexicanus (Fringilla mexicana P. L. S. Muller, Syst. Nat. 

 Suppl. 1766, p. 165), and therefore reducible to a subspecies of the latter. See Ridgw. 

 Man. 1887, p. 391 ; Coues, Key, 4th ed. 1890, p. 899; A. 0. U. List, 2d ed. 1895, p. 213, 

 No. 519. 



C. m. ruber'rimus. (Lat., superlative degree oi ruber, red.) Red-breasted Finch. St. 

 Lucas House Finch. This alleged variety resembles the last ; crimson tints more diffuse. 

 Lower California and probably Sonora. This is C. frontalis rlwdocolpus of the 2d, 3d, and 

 4th eds. of the Key, p. 348, and A. 0. U. List, 1st ed. J886, p. 257, after C. rhodocolpus 

 Cab. Mus. Hein. i, 1851, p. 166; and if the variation be worth any name, I fail to see why 

 this is not available, as it certainly covers the present case, though Dr. Cabanis may not have 

 indicated satisfactorily the geographical distribution. The bird in question has received three 

 different names from Mr. Ridgway ; being his C. frontalis var. rhodoco^ms of Am. Journ. 

 Sci. V, Jan. 1873, p. 39 ; his C. frontalis ruberrimus, Man. 1887, p. 391 ; and his C. mexi- 

 canus ruberrinms, ibid. p. 594; which latter is tlie clioice of the A. 0. U. List, 2d ed. 1895. 

 p. 214, No. 519 b. 



C. m. cleiuen'tis. (Lat. clemens, gen. clementis, adj., clement, mild; proper name of Sauctus 

 Clemens, St. Clement, a person, applied in Spanish form San Clemente to an island.) San 

 Cle.mente House Finch. " Intermediate between the form of frontalis inhabiting the neigh- 

 boring mainland of California and C. Mcgregori.^' San Clemente and Santa Barbara Islands. 

 Mearns, Auk, July, 1898, p. 258; C. mexicanus clementis, A. 0. U. Suppl. List, Auk, Jan. 

 1899, p. 114, No. 519 c. 



C. am'plus. (Lat. umplus, ample, large.) Guadalupe House Finch. An insular form, 

 resembling C. m. frontalis proper, but with darker tints, and considerably larger ; ^, wing 

 3.10-3.35; tail 2.60-2.90 ; bill 0.40-0.45 from nostril, and same in depth; tarsus 0.75-0.85 : 

 9 somewhat smaller. Guadalupe Island, Lower California. Bull. U. S. Geol. Surv. ii, Apr. 

 1876, p. 187; Key, 3d ed. 1887, p. 872; A. 0. U. Lists, No. 520. 



