FRINGILLID^ — THE FINCHES. 489 



Sp. Char. Bill greatly compressed, and acute towards the point. Male carmine red, 

 tinged with dusky across the back; the sides of body under the wings streaked with 

 bi'own; from the middle of belly to the tail-coverts whitish, the latter streaked with 

 brown. Scapulars, wings, and tail black ; two broad bands on the wings across the ends 

 of greater and median coverts ; white spots on the end of the inner tertiaries. Female 

 brownish, tinged with olive-green in places ; feathers of the back and crown Avith dusky 

 centres; rump bright brownish-yellow. Length about 6.25 ; wing, 3.. 50 ; tail, 2.60. 



Hab. Northern parts of North America generally; Greenland (Rkixu. Ibis, III, 1861, 

 8) ; England, (September 17, Gould, Birds Great Britain). 



The M'liite bands on the wings distinguish this species from the pre- 

 ceding, although there are some other differences in form of Ijill, i'eet, 

 wing, etc. There is less variation in form and color among specimens than 

 in the preceding. It differs from the European analogue, L. hifasciata, ac- 

 cording to authors, in the more slender body and bill, and in having the 

 l)ody pomegranate-red, with blackisli back, instead of cinnabar-red, as in 

 cicrvirostra and amcrimna. Bonaparte and Sclilegel quote the American 

 species as occurring in the Himalaya Mountains, and perhaps Japan, but 

 throw doubts on the supposed European localities. 



Habits. Both the distribution and habits of this species are probaljly, in 

 all essential respects, the same with those of the preceding. It is, if any- 

 thing, a more northern bird, and it has not been detected anywhere on the 

 Pacific coast south of British America. It was found in the Arctic regions 

 by Sir John Richardson, where the other species was not observed. He 

 found it inhabiting the dense white-spruce forests of the fur country, feeding 

 })rincipally on the seeds of their cones. Up to the sixty-eighth parallel he 

 I'ound them ranging through the whole breadth of the continent. It is sup- 

 posed to go as far as these woods extend, though it has not been traced far- 

 ther than the sixty-second degree. It was found feeding on tlie upper 

 branches, clinging to them wdien wounded, and remaining suspended even 

 after death. In September they collected in small Hocks, <ind ffew from tree 

 to tree with a chattering noise. In the depth of winter they retire from the 

 coast to the thick woods of the interior. 



A few individuals of this species are recorded by Professor Reinhardt as 

 having been taken in South Greenland. 



In Pennsylvania this species is much more rare than the amcricaim, and 

 Wilson only met with a few specimens. Since his day it has been found 

 more abundantly, occasionally in tlie neighborhood of Philadelphia. 



Mr. Dall states that these Inrds were not uncommon near Nulato in the 

 winter. Several specimens were obtained in February and A})ril. Xone 

 w'ere found there in the summer. He speaks of their great expertness in 

 opening the spruce cones with their curved bills, and extracting the seeils. 



Its appearance in Eastern Massachusetts is much more irregular both as to 



numbers and time tlian that of the other species. In the fall and winter of 



18C8 and 1869 they were uncommonly abundant, ap])earing early in the fall, 



and remaining until quite late in the spring. They were even more fearless 



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