77 



LEUCOSTICTE (TEPHROCOTIS, Swainson, yar.?) GRISEI- 



NUCHA, Brandt. 



BRANDT'S LEUCOSTICTE. 



Passer arctous, var. 7, Pai.LAS, Zoog:, Eosso-Asiat., II, 183], 23. 



Frinoilla (Linaria) griseimicha, Brandt, Bull. Ac. St. Petersburg, Nov., 1841, 36. 



JMontifrin^iUa (Leucosticte) griseinucha, BoNAP. & SCHLEG., Mon. Loxiens, 1850, 

 p. 35, pi. xli. 



Leucostkte grisebmcha, BoNAP., Consp., I, 1850, 537. — Baird, B. N. Am., 1858, 

 430. — KiTTLiTZ, Denkvviirdigkeiten, 1858, 1, "291. — Dall »fcBANNlST., Tr. Chicago 

 Ac. Sc, I, 1869, 282.— Baikd, ib., 317, pi. xxviii, f. 2.— Elliott, Illust. Birds 

 Am., pi. xi.— Baird Orn. Cal., (Cooper), I, 1870, 161.— Dall, Pr. Cal. Acad. Sc, 

 Feb. 8, 1873, 3 (advance paper) ; id., March 14, 1874, 4 (advance paper). 



Leucosticte teplirocotis var. ariseinucha, CouES, Key to N. Am. Birds, 1872, p. 

 130. — Baird, Brewer, &, Eidgw., Hist. N. Am. Birds, I, 1874, 508, pi. xxiii, 

 fig. 5. 



Leucosticte teplirocotis griseinucha, CouES, B. N. W., 1375, 111 (part). 

 Leucosticte griseogenys, GouLD, P. Z. S., 1843, p. 104. 



Sab. — Aleutian Islands and coast of Alaska from Kadiak northward 

 (Iliulink,Amakuak, November, Dall; Saint Paul's and Saint George's, 

 May 7- July 10, Elliott; Kadiak, IsTovember 18-February 2, Bischoff; 

 Unalashka, July 10, Dall). 



Sp. ch. — Adult: Entire head, except the forehead and throat (the 

 throat never !), grav. Sexes exactly alike. Wing, 4.20-4.85 (4.49) : tail, 

 3.15-3.90 (3.49); culnien, .50-.02 (.57); tarsus, .85-1.00 (.95); middle 

 toe, .65-. 75 (.71).* 



Male : General color dark sepia or chocolate, becoming black on the 

 throat and with a deep chestnut cast on the breast and back. Wing, 

 4.25-4.75 (4.48) ; tail, 3.25-3.80 (3.49) ; culmen, .50-.62 (.57) ; tarsus, 

 .85-1.00 (.98) ; middle toe, .65-.75 (.70).t 



Female : Colors precisely similar. Wing, 4.20-4.85 (4.48) ; tail, 3.15- 

 3.90 (3.49); culmen, .55-.60 (.50); tarsus, .90-1.00 (.95); middle toe, 

 .70-.75 (.73).i: 



Young : Prevailing color uniform brownish gray, washed with umber; 

 wings and tail dusky slate, the feathers bordered with paler ; the edges 

 of the lesser wing-coverts and remiges very pale pinkish; of the greater 

 wing-coverts and tertials pale dull ochraceous. No black or gray about 

 the head. Bill horn-color. 



Precisely the same seasonal changes take place in this race that ob- 

 tain in the other forms. The series in breeding-plumage is very large, 

 consisting of thirty-eight specimens, obtained with many nests and 

 eggs and a number of youngbirds, on the fur-seal islands (Saint George's 

 and Saint Paul's) of the Aleutian Archipelago, by Mr. H. W. Elliott, the 

 talented artist and accomplished collector stationed there in the interest 

 of the United States Government. 



In the entire series of fifty-two adult specimens not one has any gray 

 on the throat — almost always present in var. littoralis ; indeed, no other 

 form of the genus is so uniform in characters or presents so small a 

 range of individual variation as the present one. So uniform are its 

 characters that we are tempted to rank this form as a distinct species; 



* Measurements of 46 specimens. t Measurements of 27 specimens. 



t Measurements of 13 specimens. 



