182 CRIMSON-NECKED BULLFINCH. 



may be mistaken for the Crimson-necked BuUfincli ; two of these, belong 

 ing to the genus Pyrrhula, present so much analogy with the present 

 species, judging from their descriptions, that we doubted the correct- 

 ness of giving the latter a separate place, considering it identical with 

 Pyrrhula erythrina of Temminck, whose description agrees better with 

 it than that of any other. Yet, in addition to some differences discov- 

 erable by comparing the Crimson-necked Bullfinch with his description, 

 we cannot admit, that an arctic bird of the old continent, known to visit 

 even the more northern portion of the temperate climates only during 

 very cold winters, and then not very regularly, should be found, in the 

 month of July, on the sultry plains of the Arkansas, and of course 

 breeding there. We therefore conclude that our bird is not the ery- 

 thrina, although we regret our inability to give differential characters, 

 having never seen that species, as our endeavors to obtain a specimen 

 have not been attended with success. The southern residence of our 

 bird might lead us to suppose it the Loxia [Pyrrhula) violacea, which 

 we have not seen, neither do we think the species well established. But, 

 if we are to rely on the short description given of it, and on Catesby's 

 figure, we cannot perceive much resemblance between them ; their iden- 

 tity, however, would not much surprise us, when we consider that Cates- 

 by's figure of the Pyrrhula violacea is as much like our bird, as his 

 figure of the Purple Finch is like what it is intended to represent. 

 Having the authority of Say, we consider it as new, notwithstanding 

 these doubts. 



The Crimson-necked Bullfinch was procured by Long's party, near 

 the Rocky Mountains, and Say described it in the journal of that expe- 

 dition, under the name of Fringilla frontalis, adopting that genus in 

 the comprehensive limits assigned by Illiger and Cuvier. The specific 

 name given by Say is preoccupied in that genus by an African species ; 

 but, as we consider our bird a Pyrrhula, we think proper to retain his 

 name. 



The Crimson-necked Bullfinch is five inches and a half long. The 

 bill and feet are horn color ; the lower mandible is paler ; the irides are 

 dark brown. The head, neck beneath, and superior portion of the 

 breast, are brilliant crimson, most intense near the bill and over the 

 eye ; the space between the bill and the eyes is cinereous-gray, as well 

 as the cheeks, and the small feathers immediately around the bill ; the 



doubt in his Synopsis, whether the birds in the neighborhood of New York, so much 

 resembling the erythrina, were not specifically the same, he alluded to the Fringilla 

 purpurea: Gmelin, as usual, in his miserable compilation, inserted this doubt of 

 Latham as a certainty. As to the Crimson-headed Finch of Pennant, it is evidently 

 the purpurea, thus excusing, in part, the strange assertion of Wilson. Latham, 

 also, committed an error in his Index, by placing the Loxia ei-ythriiia of Pallas and 

 Gmelin, his own Crimson-headed Finch, as a variety of Fringilla rosea. 



