310 BIRDS 



nearly spotless at the smaller end, but at the larger end 

 marked with irregular streaks or dots of lavender or red- 

 dish-brown. The eggs are small, about eight-tenths of an 

 inch long by nearly six-tenths in diameter. 



GRAY-CROWNED ROSY FINCH 



By a recent committee of the American Ornithologists' 

 Union this bird was given the name of Gray-crowned Rosy 

 Finch, instead of gray-crowned leucosticte. In the United 

 States and Canada we have several varieties of the leu- 

 costicte, but they are chiefly confined to the western por- 

 tions of the continent. Members of the Alpine regions, 

 like the ouzels and the longspurs, they are social httle 

 fellows. 



Their choice of territory for breeding purposes is in 

 keeping with those of the evening grosbeak and white- 

 tailed ptarmigan in nesting in the far North or in the high- 

 est mountains. The birds spend most of their time upon 

 the ground, collecting their food of seeds and insects. 



Little has been written regarding the rosy finch and its 

 near allies, chiefly because their summer range takes them 

 to the more inaccessible mountain regions, where collecting 

 is difficult, unless a small number of naturalists organize an 

 expedition for that purpose. 



The nest of the leucosticte, constructed almost entirely 

 of grass, is placed in crevices of the rocks, under boulders, 

 or on little ridges at altitudes above timber line. Like the 

 eggs of swifts, owls, petrels, and other birds which nest in 

 dark places or in crevices, they are white, unspotted. 



