GROSBEAKS, FINCHES, SPARROWS: Family Fringillidae L 541 ] 



plumage everywhere gray beneath the surface, giving an effect of immaturity ; scapulars 

 and feathers of the central back with only faint trace of dusky centers; wings and tail dusky, 

 feathers tipped and edged with whitish. Adult female: general color clear ash gray, 

 bright tawny yellow on top and sides of head, back of neck, and middle of breast; 

 tail with faint yellow wash on upper coverts. Young: like female, but brownish 

 gray, with brownish and grayish edgings to wings and tail. M.ale: length (skins) 

 8.00-8.55, wing 4.7Z-4.86, tail 3.67-4.00, bill .61-. 68. Female: length (skins) 

 8.00-8.30, wing 4. 65-4. 69, tail 3.48-3.50." (Bailey) Nest: A flimsy affair of rootlets 

 in a conifer. Eggs: As with the Alaska Pine Grosbeak. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds on higher summits of Rocky Mountains from west 

 central Alberta, British Columbia, Idaho, and Montana to northern New Mexico. 

 Winters mostly to south and east. In Oregon: Probably breeds in higher parts of 

 Wallowa Mountains. Winters sparingly in extreme eastern part of State. 



JEWETT (191 6a) recorded two specimens of the Rocky Mountain Pine 

 Grosbeak taken on Cliff River in the Wallowa Mountains, September 9, 

 1915, that were badly worn and were probably breeding birds. There are 

 three more specimens in his collection, one from Fort Warner (Lake 

 County, November 3), one from Crane (Harney County, January 7), and 

 the third from La Grande (Union County, January 15), that are identical 

 with the breeding birds from the Rockies in Montana and Colorado. One 

 taken March i, 1919, in Wallowa County and listed by Gabrielson (i9i4a) 

 as this subspecies is, with more adequate comparative material available, 

 found to be alascensis. In habits and behavior, the two birds are quite 

 similar, and it is impossible to separate them on field identifications. We 

 have, therefore, confined our records to actual specimens taken. 



Hepburn's Rosy Finch: 



Leucosticte tephrocotis littoralis Baird 



DESCRIPTION. "Similar to the gray-crowned, but gray of crown spreading down over 

 sides of head, sometimes covering all but black frontal patch. Male: length (skins) 

 6.04-6.80, wing 4.00-4.32., tail z. 36-2.. 75, bill .43-. 49. Female: length (skins) 6.08- 

 6.47, wing 3.94-4.10, bill .45-. 49." (Bailey) Nest: Dry grass and roots, in rock 

 crevices. Eggs: Usually 3 or 4, white. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds above timber line on mountains from Alaska penin- 

 sula south to Three Sisters in central Oregon. Winters widely over adjoining low- 

 lands. In Oregon: Breeds on Hood, Jefferson, Three Sisters, probably Mount 

 McLoughlin, and possibly such peaks as Mount Washington and Three-fingered 

 Jack. Winters abundantly but irregularly over eastern Oregon. 



THE MOST ABUNDANT wintering Rosy Finch in the State is Hepburn's 

 Rosy Finch. It gathers into huge flocks that swirl along the rocky hill- 

 sides of eastern Oregon like leaves in a storm. These winter flocks are 

 restless, except when actually feeding. They whirl up in spiral flights, 

 then alight for a few seconds, only to start off again with little apparent 

 reason. Usually they alight on the ground, sometimes on buildings, 



