CRIMSON-NECKED BULLFINCH. Igl 



the middle of the breast ; the belly and vent are white. The wings are 

 dusky-brown ; the lesser wing coverts are margined with dull cinereous ; 

 the exterior primary is equal to the third ; both are very little shorter 

 than the second, which is longest ; the outer webs of the second, third, 

 and fourth primaries, being whitish near their bases, form a distinct 

 spot on the wing. The tail is rounded, the feathers being blackish- 

 brown ; the two intermediate ones are immaculate, somewhat paler than 

 the others. The adjoining ones have a small white spot at tip, which, 

 on the lateral feathers, increases in size, until, on the exterior one, it 

 occupies half the total length of the feather ; whilst its exterior web is 

 white to the base. 



The female is very similar to the male, but the colors are duller, and 

 the stripes on the head are not so decided ; the auriculars, moreover, 

 are yellowish-brown. 



This species has the bill and feet precisely similar to those of Wilson's 

 Black-throated Bunting, and those other Fringillce, and supposed 

 Emherizoe, of which I have constituted the sub-genus Spiza, in my 

 " Observations on Wilson's Ornithology." It cannot be mistaken for 

 any other species, being very peculiar in its markings and manners. 



PTRRHULA FRONTALIS. 



CRIMSON-NECKED BULLFINCH. 



[Plate TI. Fig. 1, Male ; Fig. 2, Female.] 

 Fringilla frontalis, Sat, in Long's Expedition to the Roclty Mountains, ii., p. 40. 



Much confusion exists in the works of naturalists respecting those 

 Finches and Bullfinches that are tinged with red ; and, in fact, their 

 great resemblance to each other, and their intricate synonymy, render 

 them very difficult to elucidate. The only species in Wilson's work 

 with which the present may be confounded, is the Fringilla purpurea, a 

 bird closely related to ours, and for the first time well figured, and per- 

 manently established by that author.* But several other allied species 



* He was rather precipitate in asserting the Fringilla rosea and Loxia erythrina 

 to be identical with his bird, as they are actually two very distinct species, belong- 

 ing to the genus Pyrrhula, and proper to the old continent; whilst the purpurea is 

 a true Fringilla, and peculiar to America. To those who have not critically inves- 

 tigated the subject, it may appear somewhat inconsistent to state, that the erythrina 

 is not an inhabitant of this continent, when it is a well known fact, that many 

 authors speak of it as an American bird. This apparent contradiction may be 

 readily removed, by considering what bird those authors alluded to, vrhen they 

 stated the erythrina to be a native of North America. When Latham expressed a 



