RED CONSPICUOUS IN PLUMAGE 483 
fourth or fifth day. They feather very rapidly, and on 
the fifteenth day are on the edge of the nest ready for 
their début. It is at this time that the domestic cat 
and the small boy collecting for the bird-store get in 
their deadly work. Were the robins of the East no 
better protected than are these feathered citizens of 
California, they would soon become only a legend to 
tell our grandchildren. 
I have watched the Finches feed their young, by 
regurgitation at first and later with fresh food, and very 
rarely do they bring fruit to the nest. Seeds of various 
weeds and small green caterpillars formed the larger 
part of the diet, at least of the nestlings. In spite of 
their bad name, I believe they will some day be proved 
to have accomplished a fair amount of good to offset 
the evil charged against them, if in no greater way than 
by eating the seeds of injurious weeds. 
521a. MEXICAN CROSSBILL. — Loaia curvirostra 
stricklandi. 
Famity: The Finches, Sparrows, etc. 
Length : 6.80-7.25. 
Adult Male: Plumage dull red ; brighter on rump ; wings and tail uni- 
form dusky ; feathers of back indistinctly streaked. 
Adult Female: Plumage olive, varying in shade from a grayish to a yel- 
lowish cast. 
Young: Plumage light olive; under parts lighter, streaked all over, 
except on wings and tail, with dusky. 
Geographical Distribution: In the mountainous parts of the Southwest- 
ern United States from Western Kansas, Colorado, and Arizona, south 
through highlands of Mexico. 
California Breeding Range: Locally in the central Sierra Nevada. 
