FRINGILLID^ — THE FINCHES. 505 



frontal blackish patch extending from base of bill (excepting the bristly feathers imme- 

 diately adjacent to it), and reaching somewhat beyond the line of the eyes, with con- 

 vex outline behind, and extending lesf distinctly on the loral region. Chin and throat 

 darker chestnut, not grayish anteriorly. Body behind dusky ; the feathers of abdomen 

 and flanks washed, and of crissum, rump, and upper tail-coverts tipped, with rose-red ; 

 wing-coverts, and to some extent quills, edged with the same; otherwise with white. 

 Bill yellowish, with dusky tip; feet black. Length before skinning, G.50 ; extent, 11.50. 

 Skin : Length, 6.50 ; wing, 4.30 ; tail, .'5.00. 



Young, Pattern of coloration as in tlic adult of L. tephrocotis ; ash similarly restricted, 

 but with the black frontal patch badly detined. The brown of the plumage, however is 

 of an entirel}'' different sliade from that of adult specimens oi' tephrocotis, being of a black- 

 ish-sepia cast, much darker, even, than in ijriseinucha ; each feather also broadly bordered 

 terminally with paler, these borders being whitish on the throat and breast, brownish on 

 the nape and back, and liglit rose (broadly) on the scapulars. The whole abdomen, 

 flanks, and crissum are nearly continuofisly peach-blossom pink, which, with that of the 

 lesser and middle wing-coverts and rump, is of a finer and brighter tint than in adults. 

 The other edgings to wings are pale ochraceous ; under side of wing pure white. Bill dull 

 yellow, dusky toward tip. Wing, 4.20; tail, 3.80. (00,638, Uintah Mountains, Utah, 

 September 20, 1870 ; Dk. F. V. Haydex.) 



The young specimen described was obtained during the summer of 1871 

 in the Uintah Mountains ; and were it not unmistakably a bird of the year, 

 it would be considered almost a distinct species, so different is it from 

 adult specimens of tephrocotis. 



Habits. Of the history and habits of this well-marked and strikingly 

 peculiar bird, but little is known. It was lirst described by Swainson from 

 a single specimen, obtained on the Saskatchewan Plains, in JMay, by Dr. 

 liichardson's party. Specimens were afterwards procured in Captain Stans- 

 bury's expedition, near Salt Lake City, Utah, in ^March, 1850. Dr. Hayden 

 found them very abundant on the Laramie Plains during the winter season, 

 and Mr. Pearsall obtained nund^ers about Fort Benton. Dr. Cooper has also 

 seen one specimen brought from somewhere east of Lake Tahoe, in Washoe, 

 by Mr. F. Gruber. They were said to be plentiful there in the cold winter 

 of 1861-62. Dr. Cooper thinks it probable that they vi^it the similar 

 country east of the northern Sierra Nevada, in California. 



A single flock of what is presumed to have been this species was seen by 

 Mr. Eidgway, on the 5th of January, in the outskirts of Virginia City, N"e- 



the forehead ; I'ost of head light ehoeolate-browii, .similar to, but luore laded than, that of the 

 winter plumage ; nasal tufts grayish-white. 



Ten specimens collected by Mr. Allen all agree in the characters iioiutetl out, by which they 

 differ from the winter plumage of L. tephrocotis. Taking into consideration the fact of their 

 black instead of yellowi.sh bill, more intense red, and generally more dusky color.s, as well as 

 the other points of distinction from the previously known plumages of L. tephrocotis, and also 

 that they are identical in size and proportion, while specimens of L. tephrocotis in the breeding 

 plumage have not before been seen, it seems very reasonable to suppose that these specimens 

 represent the breeding plumage of that species. There is some resemblance to L. brunneinuclia, 

 which, from the }>late in Bona]iarte and Schlegel's monograph of the Coccothraustince, seems to 

 differ mainly in being lighter colored, ilr. xVllen says that these birds were breeding abundantly 

 m the locality where they were found. 

 64 



