CRIMSON-NECKED BULLFINCH. 183 



crimson feathers are brown at base, being red only at tip. The occiput, 

 and the neck above and on each side, are brown, with a reddish cast, 

 the feathers being margined with pale ; the back is dusky-brownish ; 

 the rump and superior tail coverts are crimson, but less vivid than that 

 of the head ; the inferior portion of the breast, the belly, and vent, are 

 whitish, each feather having a broad fuscous line ; the general plumage 

 is lead color at base. The wings are blackish-brown, the primaries being 

 broadly margined within, towards the base, with whitish, and exteriorly 

 edged with grayish ; the coverts and secondaries are edged with dull 

 grayish. The tail is blackish-brown, hardly emarginated ; the lateral 

 feathers are edged, on the inner side, with whitish. 



Such is the description of our male specimen ; but as it was procured 

 when summer was far advanced, a season in which the plumage begins 

 to fade, it is proper to observe, that the coloring of this bird is probably 

 much more brilliant in its full spring dress, the crimson extending much 

 further down on the back, &c. As the season advances, the tips of the 

 feathers, which are the only parts of a crimson color, being gradually 

 worn off, the bird as gradually loses its brilliancy, and, in the autumnal 

 and winter plumage, exhibits the humble appearance of the female. 



The female is altogether destitute of the brilliant color, being dusky- 

 brown above, the feathers margined on each side with dull whitish ; the 

 whole inferior surface is whitish, each feather having a brown longitudi- 

 nal line in the middle, obsolete on the vent, which is almost pure white. 

 A change similar to that above mentioned, takes place in the Purple 

 Finch, whose habits also much resemble those of the Crimson-necked 

 Bullfinch ; but the form of its bill is certainly that of a Finch, and 

 will always distinguish it from the species we are describing, the bill 

 of which is unequivocally of the Bullfinch form. The different tints 

 of red adorning these birds, will also at once strike the eye of the 

 least expert in discriminating species ; in the present bird the tint is 

 vivid crimson, whilst in the Purple Finch it is rosaceous. In addition 

 to these characters, the latter is a somewhat larger bird, with a pure 

 white belly and inferior tail coverts, and a deeply emarginated tail ; 

 whilst the former has a nearly even tail, and its belly and inferior tail 

 coverts are striped with dusky. 



Some persons, without doubt, may think it highly improper to sepa- 

 rate generically two birds, so closely allied as the present species and 

 the Purple Finch, which may be mistaken for the same species ; but 

 we may remark, that they stand at the extreme limit of their respective 

 genera, and form the links of union between Pyrrhula and Fringilla. 

 It is true, that the intimate alliance of these two groups would seem to 

 justify Illiger, Meyer, and others, in uniting them under the same 

 genus ; but as Fringilla is so vast in the number of its species, and 

 Pyrrhula has a few distinctive characters, we choose to follow Tern- 



