66 Coues's History of the Evening Grosbeak. 



at once the far-away land of the dipping sun, and the tuneful ro- 

 mance which the wild bird throws around the fading light of day. 

 Clothed in the most striking color-contrasts of hlack, white, and gold, 

 he seems to represent the allegory of diurnal transmutations ; for 

 his sable pinions close around the brightness of his vesture, just as 

 the night encompasses the golden hues of the sunset ; while the 

 clear white space enfolded in these tints foretells the dawn of the 

 morrow. 



not New England). — Sumich., Mem. bost. Soc. I, 1869, 550 (near City of 

 Mex.). - ?C00P., Am. Nat III, 1869, 75 (Montana). —Coop., B. Cal. I, 1870 

 174. — (Vh-ks, Key, 1872, VJ7.— Aik., Pr. Bost. Soc. XV, 1872, 109 (Wyoming); 

 — Ames, Bull. Minnesota Acad. 1874, 58. — 4Cooi\, Am. Nat. VIII, 1874, 

 17. — Coues, B. N. W. 1874, 104.— 15. B. & I!., X. A. B. I. 1874, 449, pL 

 22, f. 1. — Hkx.su., Rep. Orn. Specs. 1874, 108 (Arizona). — Hensh., bist B. 

 Ariz. 1875, 158. — Hexsh., Zool. Expl. W. 100 Merid. 1875, 239. — Bi:i.\vku, 

 Pr. Bost. Soc. XVII, 1875, 451 (Essex Co., X. V., in winter). — Snow, B. 

 Kans. 3d ed. 1875, 6 (Kansas, in November; common). — Tiffaxy, Amer. Xat. 

 XII, July, 1878, 471 (Minneapolis, Minn. ; habits). 



Hesperiphona vespertina var. montcma, llnx;., apud B. B. & lb, X. A. B. 

 I. 1874, 449, pi. 22, f. 4. — Ridow., Bull. Essex Inst. V, 1S73, 181 (Colorado). 



Coccothraustcs bonapartii, Less., "Illust. de Zool. 1834, pi. 34 ($, Melville 

 Isl.)." 



Loxia bonapartii, Less., "Bull. So. pi. XXV." 



& adult. Genera] color sordid yellow, overlaid with a sooty-olive shade, 

 deepest on the fore parts, the crown becoming quite black, clearest on the under 

 parts behind. A frontal patch prolonged into ;i Bborl streak over each eye, the 

 scapulars, ami rump, quite pure yellow. Wings ami tail black ; several of the 

 inner secondaries, witli the inner half of the series of greater wing-coverts, 

 white. Lining of wings partly black, partly yellow. A narrow black line 

 around base <>f upper mandible. Tibire black. Bill greenish-yellow. I 

 apparently dusky flesh-color. Length, 7J-8J inches; wing, 4-4.\ ; tail, 2A - 

 3 ; lull, \ long, 3 deep, and \ broad at the base. 



$ adult. Brownish ash-color, paler below, and whitening on the belly, irregu- 

 larly mixed or patched with yellowish. Lining of wings ami axillars bright yellow. 

 White Bpeculum on tin 1 wing incomplete, the feathers being partly black, ami 

 sometimes having the white pari tinged with yellow ; the primaries, which are 

 entirely black on the male, having also large white areas on the inner webs, 



ami being sometimes tipped with white. 



The adult males differ much in the shade of the yellow, ami degree to which 



it is obscured by the sooty-olive. Taking age and sex also into account, the 

 range of variation in color is wide, but the remarkable species cannol be mis- 

 taken for any Other. 



Specimens from the Southern Rocky Mountain region and southward are 

 said to have the bill less turgid, the yellow frontlet narrower, and less white OU 

 the wings. Such constitute Mr. Etidgway's variety montana, a typical example 

 of which 1 have seen from Illinois. 



