79 

 LEUCOSTICTE AUSTEALIS (Allen). 



BROWN-CAPPED LEUCOSTICTE; ALLEN'S LEUCOSTICTE.. 



1'iFasser arctoa, ,3, 2, Pallas, Zoog. Rosso- As., II, 1831, 22. 



^Lcucosticte griseinucha," Allen, Am. Nat., VI, No. 6, June, 1872, p. 350. 



" Leucosticte tephrocotis,^' ALLEN, " Ornithological Notes from the West" (reprint 

 of article in Am. Nat.), 1872, 22; Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., Cambridge, III, No. 6, 

 p. 177.— Baird, Breaver, & Ridgway, Hist. N. Am. Birds, I, 1874, pp. 504- 

 505 (foot-note), pi. xxiii, f. 9.— CoUES, B. N. W., 1875, 111 (see foot-note), 



Leucosticte tephrocotis var. australis, Allex, MSS. — RiDGWAY, Bull. Essex Inst., V, No- 

 vember, 1873, pp. 182, 189, 190.— Baird, Brewer, & Ridgvyay, Hist. N. Am. 

 Birds, III, app.,p. 509. 



Sal). — Colorado and New Mexico (Moant Lincoln, Colorado ; altitude, 

 12,000 feet), July, Allen ; Pike's Peak, Hayden ; South Park, Mount 

 Evans, Mount Harvard, Red Mountains and neighborhood, Wheeler, 

 (RoTHROCK) ; i^ew Mexico, Wheeler. 



Sp. ch. — IsTo gray on the head ; sexes very dissimilar. Wing, 4.00- 

 4.40 (4.15) ; tail, 2.80-3.35 (3.09) ;* culmen, .4b-.4S f.45) ; tarsus, .70-.80 

 (.77) ; middle toe, .55-.60 (.57).t 



Adult male: General color light chocolate-brown, of a raw-umber 

 cast, deepest on the throat, which usually inclines toward maroon-pur- 

 ple or claret-brown, and is sometimes tinged with carmine ; the dorsal 

 feathers with appreciably paler edges and darker shaft-streaks. Pileum 

 grayish dusky, becoming gradually dull black on the forehead, and 

 more grayish (but not approaching ash) laterally. Red of the abdo- 

 men extended forward to the breast — sometimes minutely tipping every 

 feather of the throat, jugulum and fore-neck. Wing, 4.00-4.40 (4.30) ; 

 tail, 2.80-3.35 (310) 5I culmen, .40-.4S (.45) ; tarsus, .70-.80 (.77) ; middle 

 toe, .55-.60 (.58).§ 



Adult female : Prevailing color pale grayish raw-umber , the pileum 

 hardly appreciably different, and the forehead scarcely inclining to black ; 

 red markings almost obsolete, and distinctly indicated only on the les- 

 ser wing-coverts and rump ; greater coverts, remiges, and rectrices 

 skirted with whitish; abdomen scarcely tinged with red. Wing, 4.00- 

 4.25 (4.09) ;|| tail, 2.90-3.25 (3.03) ; culmen, .45-.48 (.47) ; tarsus, .75-.78 

 (76) ; middle toe, .55-60 (.57).^ 



Young, Not seen ! 



The male and female differ constantly in the respects pointed out 

 above; the brightest female not apj^roaching the duller males in intensity 

 of the colors or in the precision of the pattern of coloration. 



In the spring, both sexes have the bill uniform dusky, the shade vary- 

 ing according to the month; thus, specimens obtained in the latter part 

 of February have the bill yellow ; those killed early in March have this 

 color clouded or shaded with horn-dusky; in May, the bill has become 

 uniform dusky horn-color, approaching blackish slate, and in June it 



* Measurements of 104 specimens. 

 t Measurements of 50 specimens. 

 + Measurements of 69 specimens. 

 ^ Measurements of 46 specimens. 

 II Measurements of 28 specimens. 



il Measurement of 3 specimens ; average of measurements of the full series would ap- 

 proximate more closely to that of the male. 



