LEUCOSTICTE TEPHEOCOTIS, GEAY-CKOWNED FINCH. 113 



Inspection of Swainson's remarkably faithful plate will give a good 

 idea of the normal condition of typical tephrocotis, with which all the 

 United States specimens I have seen, excepting these of Mr. Allen's, 

 agree perfectly. We have just seen how southern individuals at least, 

 under certain circumstances, lose the hoary ash of the head altogether. 

 In this variability of the ash \ye find the clue to the correct interpreta- 

 tion of some northern styles that have been currently accepted as dis- 

 tinct species. In the extreme case of griseinuclia (Brandt), the ash 

 envelopes nearly the whole head, including the chin, leaving only a 

 black I'rontlet of varying width. Such a specimen looks quite unlike 

 typical tephrocofis, and would certainly be held a distinct species, were 

 the intermediate links unknown. Such, however, is not the case; in 

 the Smithsonian series alone, which I have examined, we find almost 

 every imaginable gradation in the exteut of the ash, so that it becomes 

 Impossible to draw a dividing line anywhere. It is necessary, therefore, 

 to treat griseimiclia as a variety of tephrocotis. As stated in the Key 

 (p. 352), it does not seem to be necessary to recognize more than one 

 variety, '■^ campestris'''' of Baird being referable to tephrocotis proper, and 

 ^'■littoralis" of Baird agreeing sufficiently with var. griseinuclia. 



It is interesting to observe, that in the closely allied but apparently 

 distinct species, L. arctoa of Siberia, and of the Kurile and Aleutian 

 Islands, a great part of the plumage takes on a rosy-tinted, silvery- 

 ash hue. 



We have little information respecting the habits of the Gray-crowned 

 Finch ; they probably agree in the main with those of Red-polls and 

 Linnets. Mr. Holden gives a note upon this subject, and one also bear- 

 ing upon the dark plumage above discussed. Speaking of the mount- 

 ainous southeastern extremity of Wyoming, he says: "These birds are 

 never found here in summer ; they come in small flocks in the coldest 

 part of winter. Their food is small seeds and insects. I have found 

 some with the crops so full of seeds as to distort the birds. They be- 

 come veiy fat, and are good eating. In one specimen, a young male I 

 think, the plumage is almost hlach — in fact it is black, except the wings 

 and after-half of the body." 

 I find the following notes in Mr. Trippe's Mss. : 



"During the winter I saw several flocks of this bird near Central 

 City, where they were feeding in the dry gulches and about gardens, 

 acting like Lapland Longspurs; but did not observe them elsewhere, 

 though I looked carefully for them throughout a large extent of country. 

 During summer and autumn the Gray-crowned Finch is common above 

 timber-line, where it breeds, ranging higher than the Titlark, and being 

 usually found in the vicinity of snow-flelds and the frozen lakes near 

 the summit of the range. It is rather shy in such localities, though ex- 

 ceedingly tame in winter ; its flight is in undulating lines, like the Cross- 

 bill's, and the only note I have heard it utter is a kind of 'churr,' like 

 the cal! of the Scarlet Tanager. In the latter part of September small 

 flocks, composed of one or two families, may be seen together : and still 

 later in the season they gather into large flocks. They stay above tim- 

 ber-line till the close of October or the middle of iSTovember, being much 

 hardier than the Titlark ; and only descend when driven away by the 

 furious winter storms. * * * * Since the above was penned, great 

 flocks of the Gray-crowned Finch have appeared near Idaho Springs. 

 In their habits and actions thej' are very siniilar to the Plectroplianes. 

 They are perpetually roving from place to place ; feed upon the seeds of 

 weeds and grasses ; and are never at rest for more than a moment at a 

 time, constantly whirling about in close, dense masses, like so many 



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