Vol. XIV 



1. xivn 



I8y7 J 



Grinnell, a Ne%v Race of Sfinus tristis. 



397 



NEW RACE OF SFINUS TRISTIS FROM THE 

 PACIFIC COAST. 



BY JOSEPH GRINNELL. 



Spinus tristis salicamans, new subspecies. Willow 

 Goldfinch. 



Winter Plumage: — Similar to corresponding plumage of eastern 6". 

 tristis, but browner with much broader wing-markings. In these respects 

 it thus resembles 5. t. pallidus, but is easily distinguishable by its extreme 

 darkness. 



Type, $ ad., No. 575, Coll. J. G., Pasadena, California, Dec. 21, 1895. 

 Above dark olive-tawny; rump lighter; sides and flanks shaded with color 

 of back ; under tail-coverts white, tinged with tawny ; throat gamboge 

 yellow shading into dull green on middle of breast; abdomen pure white ; 

 sides of head like throat, excepting the ear-coverts which are of the color 

 of the back. Wings and tail black ; white skirtings of the tail-feathers 

 scarcely exceeding those of 6". tristis, but the markings on the wings 

 much extended. Greater wing-coverts broadly tipped with white, forming 

 a bar across the closed wing .iS of an inch wide; median coverts also 

 broadlj' white tipped ; lesser coverts olive-green ; primaries narrowly 

 tipped, and secondaries and tertiaries bi-oadly tipped and outwardly 

 margined with white. The white markings of the wings more or less 

 tinged with tawny. Bill chrome yellow at base, dusky-tipped. 



The female in winter plumage is similar to the male, but the black of 

 the wings and tail is less pure, and the throat is duller colored ; bill dusky. 



Summer Pluviage : — In this plumage the male is scarcely distinguish- 

 able from 5. tristis; the black cap is, if anything, not so extended, and 

 the yellow is not so pure and intense as in the eastern form. The white 

 edgings of the wing-feathers are often entirely worn off, so that the wing 

 is left with barely a trace of white. Bill, in life, darker, almost orange- 

 ochraceous. The wing and tail average shorter, and the bill bulkier. 



The female in breeding plumage is readily separable from the eastern 

 bird by its much darker color. The female .S. tristis is brightly tinged 

 over the whole breast with yellowish green, while the female 6'. t. 



Measurements are in inches. 



