348 



SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSEBES— OSCINES. 



197. C. f. rhodocol'pus. (Gr. p68ov, rhodon, the rose; koKttos, kolpos, tte breast.) Rose- 

 breasted Pinch. This alleged variety resembles the last; erimson tints more diflfuse. 

 Pacific coast region of California and southward. 



66. LiOX'IA. (G-r. \o^6s, hxos, crooked.) Ckoss-bills. Bill metagnathous; both mandibles 

 falcate, deflected to opposite sides, their points crossed (unique among birds). Upper mandible 

 stout and broad at base, rapidly narrowing to the elongate, decurved, laterally deflected and 

 overhanging tip, its sides nearly flat, culminal ridge well marked and very convex throughout; 

 its base beset with a ruff of antrorse plumules concealing nostrils and nasal fossse. Lower man- 

 dible with gonys very long, occupying nearly all the exposed part of the bill, convex through- 

 out, the end of the mandible prolonged, curved upward and deflected to one side. Commissural 

 line of either mandible curved in the opposite direction from its fellow. Mouth very narrow 

 anteriorly, ample at base; tongue homy and concave at end; oesophagus with a large special 

 crop, bulging to the right side. Wings long, pointed by tips of the first three primaries, rest 

 rapidly graduated. TaU very short, only about f as long as the wing, emarginate and divari- 

 cate, covered nearly to the forking by the coverts both above and below. Feet small ; tarsus 

 shorter than middle toe without claw ; covered with 3 or 4 large overlapping plates, and smaller 

 ones above and below ; the postero-lateral plates much broken up below. Lateral toes of sub- 

 equal lengths, tips of their claws Mling opposite base of middle claw. Hind claw about equal 



to its digit, longer ; stouter, and more curved 

 than the middle one. Form stout, thick- 

 set ; neck short ; head broad and flattened 

 on top. Plumage soft and blended. Sexes 

 dissimOar in color. $ red, 9 brown with 

 olive or yellowish tinge. There are several 

 species' of these singular finches, — finches 

 in which not only the homy envelope of the 

 beak, but the bony framework, and to some 

 extent the ligaments and muscles acting 

 upon it, are unsymmetrical. The struct- 

 ures concemed in what would appear to a 

 fool to be a deformity constitute a handy 

 tool for cracking nuts of some kinds and 

 (After shelhng out their kernels; it acts like a 

 pair of cutting pliers, — pincers and scissors 

 in one. Our two species inhabit the northern parts of America, coming southward in flocks in 

 the fall ; but they are also resident in northem and mountainous parts of the U. S., where they 

 sometimes breed in winter. They are irregularly migratory according to exigencies of weather 

 and food-supply ; are eminently gregarious, and feed principally upon pine seeds, which they 

 skUftiUy husk out of the cones with their curious bills. 



Analysis of Species. 

 Wings with two white bars. <J rosy-red ; 9 brownish-oUve, streaked and spotted with dasky, the rump 



saffron-yellow . . leuooptera 198 



Wings without bars. ^ bricky-red. 9 as before, without wing-bars. 



Bill small, about % of an inch long americana 199 



Bill large, Hf of an inch long mexioana 200 



198. Ii. lencop'tera. (Gr. XtvKos, leukos, white ; irrepov, pteron, wing. Fig. 212.) White-winged 

 Ceoss-bill. Adult $ : Eosy-red, sometimes carmined or even crimsoned, obscured on middle 

 of back, paling on lower belly and crissum, latter whitish with dusky centres of the feathers. 

 Scapulars black, this color sometimes meeting across lower back. Wing- and tail-feathers 

 black, with slight white or rosy edgings ; inner secondaries and greater and middle coverts 

 tipped with white, forming two cross-bars, sometimes confluent in one large patch. Kather 



Fig. 212. —White-winged Crossbill, reduced. 

 Audubon.) 



