IS83.J Brewster oji HolbolVs Redpoll in Ne-w England. Q^ 



A more conclusive instance came to my knowledge a few days 

 later. On February -22 two young collectors happened to fall 

 in with an exceptionally large flock of Red-polls at Nantasket 

 Beach. A few shots into the crowded ranks of the unsuspecting 

 little birds brought down forty specimens, twenty being actually 

 killed at one discharge. I had the good fortune to examine these 

 specimens in the flesh and out of the total number thirty-four 

 pi-oved to be j^. holboeili. 



. In the present connection it may be worth while to point out 

 some of the characters by which Unarm and holboeili can be 

 distinguished, especially as this does not seem to have been very 

 thoroughly done, at least in any of our recent works. It will 

 be understood of course that the following remarks are based 

 on Massachusetts specimens and hence relate to winter condi- 

 tions only. : ' ' '' 



Upon comparison of well-marked examples the difference 

 between the two forms is at once apparent. Holboeili is consid- 

 erably the larger bird* and its billf is very much stouter J. The 

 •upper mandible is relatively, ias well as actually heavier, and 

 more decidedly decurved, its superior outline being often notice- 

 ably convex, whereas in /z'^ar/a it is nearly if not perfectly 

 straight. The hind claw, also, is usually, but not always, 

 longer. ' 



In plumage the two forms differ scarcely less strikingly. Hol- 

 boeili \?> very much the darker and more heavily marked ; the 

 dorsal feathers lack most of the whitish or ochraceous edging 

 so conspicuous in winter examples of lijiaria^ the general color- 

 ing above being nearly uniform dark brown ; the streaks on the 

 sides are blacker, coarser, and more numerous ; the forehead 

 darker; the rosy color beneath of the adult male is duller and 

 more restricted, being usually confined to the breast and jugulum.§ 



* An adult female in the flesh is equal in size and weight to an average Purple 

 Finch (^Carpodacus purpureus). 



t In some diagnoses the bill of holboeili is described as being wholly yellow, but 

 authorities are not agreed on this point. In the present examples the color of the 

 bill does not differ from that of linaria. 



X The bill is often apparently stouter but never, so far as my specimens show, abso- 

 lutely so, the effect being produced partly by its greater depth and partly by the fact 

 that the nasal plumules are longer and conceal more of the base. 



§ I have seen one specimen in which the rosy was similar in tint and extent to that 

 of linaria. Possibly the fully mature birds do not often range as far south as Massa- 

 chusetts- 



