390 



SYSTEM A TIC S YNOPSIS. — PA SSERES — OSCINES. 



FiG. •Jo4. — Common R 

 del. Nichols sc.) 



ish-yell(«v and dusky, the feathers having dark centres and tiaxen edges. Rump streaked with 

 dusky and white, uud tinged with rosy, more or less so according to age and season. Below, 



white ; sides and crissum streaked with dusky ; 

 entire fore parts colored with rose-red, more or 

 less rich and extensive according to same cir- 

 cumstances. Wings and tail dusky, the feathers 

 edged with whitish ; middle and greater coverts 

 tipped with the same, forming two cross-bars. 

 Bill black or yellow, usually found yellow with 

 dusky tip and edges. Feet blackish. Length 

 5.50; extent 9.00; wing 3.00; tail 2.40; bill 

 0.33 ; tarsus 0.65 ; middle toe and claw the same. 

 Adult 9 '■ Wanting entirely or having but a trace 

 of rosy uu rump and under parts. Breast with 

 a dingy yellowish wash, streaked with dusky. 

 Slightly smaller. Young : Like 9 , but $ soon 

 showing rosy. Young may usually be distin- 

 guished from adult 9 ^y ^ generally bufty suffu- 

 poii. reduced. (Sheppard sit)n, especially on fore parts; edgings of wing 

 likewise buffy ; streaks below less sharply de- 

 fined; crimson of crown restricted, or of a coppery or bronzy tint. In worn midsummer plum- 

 age the bird is very dark colored, almost entirely dusky. This bright little bird inhabits 

 northerly parts of both hemispheres, irregularly south in winter in N. Am. to about 35°; at 

 times abundant, but erratic. Eggs 4-5, very pale bluish, finely speckled all over with red- 

 dish-brown, 0.65 X 0.52. Nest in low trees and bushes. 



A. 1. hol'boelli. (To C. HolboU, a Danish naturalist.) Holboll's Red-poll. Like the 

 last; larger: length 6.00 or about; wing 3.25; tail 2.45; bill longer and less constricted, witli 

 straight lateral outlines and rather curved culmen. Europe, Asia, X. Am., northerly ; Canada 

 (Quebec, Ontario) and New England occasionally in winter. 



A. 1. rostra'ta. (Lat. rostrata, beaked.) Greater Red-poll. Size of the last ; bill very 

 stout. Greenland, S. in winter to New 

 England, New York, and the Great 

 Lake region. I originally described this 

 bird in 1861 upon dark midsummer 

 skins from Greenland. At that time I 

 did not know holboelli, and was insuffi- 

 ciently informed on seasonal variation in 

 this genus. I do not now see how it 

 differs tangibly from holboelli, but others 

 seem to be able to draw a distinction. 

 ^giothus rostratus CouES, Proc. Acad. 

 Philada. 1861, p. 378 ; Aeanthis linaria 

 rostrata Stejxeger, Auk, Apr. 1884, 

 p. 153; RiDGw. Man. 1887, p. 397; 

 A. 0. U. Lists, 1886 and 1895, No. 528 b. 

 A. hor'nemanni. (To J. W. Home- 

 man n. Figs. 253, 255.) Greenland 

 Mealy Red-poll. Bill regularly conic, 

 only moderately compressed and acute, 

 as high at base as long, color varying Fio. uso.— Greenland Red-pou. 



