70 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Species and Varieties. 



CoMMOx CnARACTERS. $. Head and u[)per parts (except rump) deep black. 

 Two broad bands across coverts, a large patch on base of primaries, and ter- 

 minal half of inner webs of tail-feathers, pure white. Breast carmine or cinna- 

 mon ; axillars and lining of wing carmine or gamboge. 9 • Black replaced by 

 ochraceous-brown ; other parts more streaked. 



H. ludovicianus. Rump and lower parts white; lining of wing, and patch 

 on breast, rosy carmine. No nuchal collar. Female. Lining of wing 

 saffron-yellow; breast with numerous streaks. Hub. Eastern Province 

 of North America, south, in winter, to Ecuador. 



H. melanocephalus. Rump and lower parts cinnamon-rufous ; lining of 

 wing and middle of abdomen gamboge-yellow. A nuchal collar of rufous. 

 Female. Lining of wing lemon-yellow; breast without streaks; abdomen 

 tinged with lemon-yellow. 



Crown continuous black. No post-ocular rufous stripe. Hah. Moun- 

 tains of Mexico, and Central Rocky Mountains of United States. 



var. raelanoceTplialxhs. 

 Crown divided by a longitudinal rufous stripe ; a distinct post-ocular 

 stripe of the same. Hah. Western Province of United States, south, 

 in winter, to Colima var. capitalis. 



Hedymeles ludovicianus, Swainson. 



EOSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK. 



Loxia ludoviciana, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 306. — Wilson, Am. Orn. II, 1810, 135s pL 

 xvii, f. 2. Guiraca ludoviciana, Swainson, Phil. Mag. I, 1827, 438. — Bonap. List, 

 1838. — Ib. Consp. 1850, 501. — Baikd, Birds N. Am. 1858, 497. —Samuels, 328. 

 Fringilla ludoviciana, AuD. Oni. Biog. II, 1834, 166 ; V, 513, pi. cxxvii. Pyrrhida 

 ludoviciana. Sab. Zool. App. Franklin's Narr. Coccothraustes ludoviciana, Rich. List, 

 Pr. Br. Ass. 1837. Coccoborus ludovicianus, AuD. Syn. 1839, 133. — Ib. Birds Am. 

 Ill, 1841, 209, pi. 205. — Max. Cab. J. VI, 1858, 267. ''Goniaphea ludoviciana, 

 BowDiCH." Hedymeles ludoviciana, Cabanis, Mus. Rein. 1851, 153. Fringilla 

 jounicecc, Gmelix, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 921 (male). Loxia obscura, Gmelin, I, 1788, 

 862. Loxia rosea, WiLsox, Am. Orn. pi. xvii, f. 2. Coccothraustes rubricollis, ViEiLLOT, 

 Galerie des Ois. I, 1824, 67, pi. Iviii. 



Sp. Char. Upper parts generally, with head and neck all round, glossy black. A 

 broad crescent across the upper part of the breast, extending narrowly down to the belly, 

 axillaries, and under Aving-coverts, carmine. Rest of under parts, rump and upper tail- 

 coverts, middle wing-coverts, spots on the tertiaries and inner great wing-coverts, basal 

 half of primaries and secondaries, and a large patch on the ends of the inner webs of the 

 outer three tail-feathers, pure white. Length, 8.50 inches; wing, 4.15. 



Female without the white of quills, tail, and rump, and without any black or red. 

 Above yellowish-brown streaked with darker ; head with a central stripe above, and a 

 superciliary on each side, white. Beneath dirty white, streaked with brown on the 

 breast and sides. Under wing-coverts and axillars saffron-yellow. 



In the male the black feathers of the back and sides of the nock have a subterminal 

 white bar. There are a few black spots on the sides of the breast just below the red. 



The young male of the year is like the female, except in having the axillaries, under 

 wing-coverts, and a trace of a patch on the breast, light rose-red. 



The depth of the carmine tint on the r.nder parts varies a good deal in different speci- 

 mens, but it is always of the same rosy hue. 



