gS BIRDS OF COLORADO. 



mens already recorded may be added two taken at Fort Collins 

 March 31. Most of the earlier records of this species really 

 refer to L. australis. 



534a. Leucosticte tephrocotis littoralis. Hepburn's I^EU- 



COSTICTE. 



Winter visitant; rare. Summers in British America and 

 comes south and east in the Rocky Mountains to Colorado. 

 There was a specimen in the Maxwell Collection; F. M. Drew 

 gives it as occurring in the winter from 5,000 to 8,000 feet, 

 while C. F. Morrison says that it is a winter visitant, rare on 

 the eastern slope and common on the western. He says he has 

 seen it both in the spring and in the fall. There is much need 

 of more information on the occurrence in Colorado of this 

 variety and the typical species. 



525. Leucosticte atrata. Black L,eucosticte. 



Winter visitant ; rare. Was originally described by Ridg- 

 way (Am. Sportsman IV. 1874, 24), from four specimens taken 

 by C. E. Aiken at Canon City in April, 1874. The_ present 

 writer has seen a mounted specimen in Colorado Springs and 

 there is one in the Maxwell Collection. All references to the 

 birds in Colorado apparently refer to one or the other of these 

 instances. 



526. Leucosticte australis. Brown-capped Leucosticte. 

 Resident; abundant. Ranges the highest in summer of 



any bird in Colorado, unless it is the White-tailed Ptarmigan. 

 Never seen below timber-line in summer and not known to nest 

 below 13,000 feet; thence to the tops of the highest peaks. 

 The height of the breeding season is -the latter part of July. 

 In August young and old swarm over the summits of the peaks 

 picking insects oflF the snow. By the last of October or early 

 in November, they descend to timber-line .and remain there 

 through the winter except as they are driven a little lower by 

 the severest storms. At the same time a few come into the 

 lower valleys almost to the base of the foothills. 



528. Acanthis iinaria. Redpoll. 



Winter resident ; common. Arrives from the north in 

 November and is fairly common on the plains and in the mount- 

 ains to 10,000. Remains high in the mountains even when the 

 temperature is thirty degrees below zero. More especially 

 common in the lower foothills of the northern half of the State. 

 Leaves for the north from the middle of March to the middle 

 of April. 



529. Spinus tristis. American Goldfinch. 



Resident; not common in winter and apparently then 

 confined to the plains; abundant in migration; rather common 



