4G8 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



often took possession of, and was a lively and most agreeable feature in the 

 dirty towns whicli it honored with its presence ; and its songs were at once 

 sweet, clear, and exquisitely melodious. 



Dr. Cooper met with these birds among the barren and rocky hills near 

 the Colorado. 



Mr. Eidgway, who found these birds breeding in large numbers at Pyra- 

 mid Lake, informs me that their nests were usually i)laced in clefts in rocks, 

 or in a cave. Xear Salt Lake City they were also very common, building 

 their nests among the shrubs known as the wild mahogany, on the hills, but 

 never frequenting the higlier regions of the mountains. 



The eggs of this bird, which are not distinguishable from those of the 

 Pacific coast form, liave a delicate pale-blue ground-color, which is very 

 fugitive, and fades even in the drawers of a cabinet. They are sparingly 

 marked, chiefly around the more obtuse end, with spots and lines of l)lack 

 and a dark brown. They are of oval sliape, elongate and pointed at one end, 

 and measure .80 of an inch in length by .60 in breadth. 



Carpodacus frontalis, var. rhodocolpus, Caban. 



CALIFORNIA HOTJSE-FINCH ; RED-HEADED LINNET; BURION. 



i Pyrrhula cruentata. Lesson, Rev. Zool. 1839, 101. Carpodacus rhodocolpus, Cabaxis, 

 Mus. Hein. 1851, 166. — Sclater, P. Z. S. 1856, 304. Carpodacus frontalis, 'Bon. 

 & ScHLEG. Mon. des Lox. 1850, tab. xvi, f. 1. — Ib. Consp. 1850, 533. — Baird, Birds 

 N. Am. 1858, 415 (iu part). — Cooper, Orn. Cal. I, 156. House Finch, Grayson, 

 Hesperian, II, 1859, 7, plate. Carpodacus familiar is, Heermann, X, 50 (nest). 



Sp. Char. ( $ 12,973, Cape St. Lucas.) Head, neck, jugulum, breast, upper part of 

 abdomen and sides, and rump, bright carmine-scarlet, dullest on the centre of the crown 

 and auricnlars ; rest of the upper parts brownish-gray, glossed with red except on the 

 wings, which have the feathers with distinctly lighter edges. Anal region, flanks, and 

 crissum white, the feathers with shaft-streaks of brown. Wing, 3.00 ; tail, 2.60 ; culmen, 

 .45 ; taisus, .62 ; middle toe, .50. 



Female and Juv. similar to var. frontalis, but colors darker. 



Hab. Coast region of Pacific Province, and peninsula of Lower California. 



The male described above represents about the average plumage of this 

 form ; an extreme example is No. 26,546, Cape St. Lucas, which is almost 

 entirely of a wine-red color, this covering the whole lower parts, except the 

 anal region, and obliterati-ng the streaks ; the wings even are tinged with 

 red. Still, on the head the red (a wine-purple tint) is brightest within those 

 limits to which it is confined in the normal plumage. 



Habits. This variety of tlie House Finch is a very common bird through- 

 out the Pacific coast, from Oregon to Mexico. Mr. Pidgway states that he 

 found this species the most common and familiar of all the birds of the Sac- 

 ramento Valley. It is a very common cage-l)ird, being higlily prized for its 

 song, which in power is hardly inferior to that of the Canary, while it far' 



