^ 



348 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES—OSCINES. 



197. C. f. rhodocol'pus. (Gr. pohov, rhodon, the rose; koXttos, kolpos, the breast.) Rose- 

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

 Pacific coast region of California and southward. 

 66. LOX'IA. (Gr. \o§6s, loxos, crooked.) Cuoss-BILLS. Bill metagiiathous; both mandibles 

 falcate, deflected to opjiosite sides, their points crossed (unique among birds). Upper mandible 

 stout and broad at base, rapidly narrowing to the elongate, decurved, laterally deflected and 

 overhanging tip, its sides nearly flat, culminal ridge well marked and very convex throughout; 

 its base beset with a rufi^ of antrorse plumules concealing nostrils and nasal fossas. Lower man- 

 dible with gonys very long, occupying nearly all the exposed part of the bill, convex through- 

 out, the end of the mandible prolonged, curved upward and deflected to one side. Commissural 

 line of either mandible curved in the opposite direction from its fellow. Mouth very narrow 

 anteriorly, ample at base; tongue horny and concave at end; oesophagus with a large special 

 crop, bulging to the right side. Wings long, pointed by tips of the first three primaries, rest 

 rapidly graduated. Tail very short, only about f as long as the wing, emarginate and divari- 

 cate, covered nearly to the forking by the coverts both above and below. Feet small ; tarsus 

 shorter than middle toe without claw ; covered with 3 or 4 large overlapping plates, and smaller 

 ones above and below ; the postero-lateral plates much broken up below. Lateral toes of sub- 

 ecjual lengths, tips of their claws falling opposite base of middle claw. Hind claw about equal 



to its digit, longer; stouter, and more curved 

 than the middle one. Form stout, thick- 

 set ; neck short ; head broad and flattened 

 i|^ on top. Plumage soft and blended. Sexes 



A - dissimilar in color. ^ red, 9 brown with 



olive or yellowish tinge. There are several 

 "^ species of these singular finches, — finches 



'^^^^"^^ ' ii^ which not only the homy envelope of the 



'^ [ Tl^^. ^^<3ak, but the bony framework, and to S(mie 



T-r^j— extent the ligaments and muscles acting 

 ^"S'^ upon it, are unsyrametrical. The struct- 



~ ^ ures concerned in what would appear to a 



■--^__ fool to be a deformity constitute a handy 



tool for cracking nuts of some kinds and 

 Pig. 212.- Wliite-winged Crossbill, reduced. (After shelling out their kernels; it acts like a 

 Audubon.) .,.,,. ,. . , . 



pair ot cutting phers, — pmcers and scissors 



in one. Our two species inhabit the northern parts of America, coming southward in flocks in 

 the fall ; but they are also resident in northern and mountainous parts of the U. S., where they 

 sometimes breed in winter. They are irregularly migratory according to exigencies of weather 

 and food-supply ; are eminently gregarious, and feed principally upon pine seeds, which they 

 skilfully husk out of the cones with their curious bills. 



Analysis of Species. 

 Wings with two white bars, cf rosy-red; ? brownish-olive, streaked and spotted with dusky, the rump 



saflfron-yellow leucoptera 198 



"Wings without bars, cf bricky-red. ? as before, without wing-bars. 



Bill small, about § of an inch long , americana 1J)» 



Bill large, |-J of an inch long mexicana 200 



198. li. leucop'tera. (Gr. Xeuxo's, leukos, white ; Trrepov, pteron, wing. Fig. 212.) White-winged 



Cross-bill. Adult $ : Rosy-red, sometimes carmined or even crimsoned, obscured on middle 

 of back, paling on lower belly and crissum, latter whitish with dusky centres of the feathers. 

 Scapulars black, this color sometimes meeting across lower back. Wing- and tail-feathers 

 black, with slight white or rosy edgings ; inner secondaries and greater and middle coverts 

 tipped with white, forming two cross-bars, sometimes confluent in one large patch. Rather 



