RED CONSPICUOUS IN PLUMAGE 483 



fourth or fifth day. They feather very rapidly, and on 

 the fifteenth day are on the edge of the nest ready for 

 their d^but. It is at this time that the domestic cat 

 and the small boy collecting for the bird-store get in 

 their deadly work. Were the robins of the East no 

 better protected than are these feathered citizens of 

 California, they would soon become only a legend to 

 tell our grandchildren. 



I have watched the Finches feed their young, by 

 regurgitation at first and later with fresh food, and very 

 rarely do thay bring fruit to the nest. Seeds of various 

 weeds and small greeu caterpillars formed the larger 

 part of the diet, at least of the nestlings. In spite of 

 their bad name, I believe they will some day be proved 

 to have accomplished a fair amount of good to ofiset 

 the evil charged against them, if in no greater way than 

 by eating the seeds of injurious weeds. 



521a. MEXICAN CROSSBILL. — Loxia curvirostra 

 stricklandi. 



Family : The Finches, Sparrows, etc. 



Length: 6.80-7.25. 



Adult Male: Plumage dull red ; brighter on rump ; wings and tail uni- 

 form dusky ; feathers of back indistinctly streaked. 



Adult Female : Plumage olive, vai-ying in shade from a grayish to a yel- 

 lowish cast. 



Young: Plumage light olive; under parts lighter, streaked all over, 

 except on wings and tail, with dusky. 



Geographical Distribution : In the mountainous parts of the Southwest- 

 ern United States from Western Kansas, Colorado, and Arizona, south 

 through highlands of Mexico. 



California Breeding Range: Locally in the central Sierra Nevada. 



