House-Finch 331 
between June 15th and July 30th near Ward (9,200 
feet), and at Duck Lake in Boulder co. In nearly every 
case the nest was placed on the horizontal branch of a 
Douglas spruce, about twenty-five feet above the ground, 
and was composed of twigs and strong grasses woven 
together and lined with cowhair. The eggs, four or 
five in number, are pale greenish to white, sparsely 
sprinkled and scratched with blackish surface-markings 
and lilac shell-marks. They measure °85 x ‘65. 
House-Finch. Carpodacus mexicanus frontalis. 
A.O.U. Checklist no 519—Colorado Records—Say 23, vol ii., p. 40; 
Aiken 72, p. 199; Trippe 74, p. 109; Henshaw 75, p. 241; Nash 83, 
p. 225; H. G. Smith 84, p. 120; Drew 85, p. 16; Beckham 85, p. 16; 
87, p. 124; Morrison 89, p. 149; H. G. Smith 93, p. 244; Cooke 97, 
p. 96; Keyser 02, p. 181; Henderson 03, p. 236; 05, p. 421; 09, 
p. 235; Warren 06, p. 22; Bergtold 07, p. 61; Gilman 07, p. 156; 
Markman 07, p. 157; Rockwell 08, p. 170. 
Description.—Male—Front half of the top of the head, rump, throat 
and upper-breast a rich dark carmine, paling on the occiput and back 
to a faint wash; the back in addition strongly streaked with dusky ; 
wings and tail, including the upper tail-coverts, dusky edged with 
whitish ; the lower-breast and rest of the under-parts dull white, 
strongly streaked with dusky; tail slightly forked; iris brown, bill 
and legs horny-brown. Length 5-5; wing 3-10; tail 2-40; culmen 
‘41; tarsus -75. 
The female resembles a male without any red, the breast being 
rather heavily streaked with brown. The immature male, and occa- 
sionally even the adult breeding male (Henderson 05), resemble the 
female and show no red. 
Distribution.—The western United States and northern Mexico, 
chiefly in the Rocky Mountain region from Oregon and southern 
Wyoming to northern Mexico and northern Lower California. 
In Colorado the House-Finch is found most abundantly in the 
foothills, and at lower elevations up to 9,000 feet in the mountains ; it 
is a resident throughout the year chiefly in the towns and villages. 
It is rarely met with on the plains or at great elevations. It is abundant 
at Boulder (Henderson), Denver (Bergtold), Colorado Springs (Aiken), 
Pueblo (Beckham) and Salida (Frey), and was noted by Keyser at 
Red Cliff (8,600 feet) and Glenwood, and by Rockwell at Grand Junction 
on the western side of the range. Warren has recorded it from Baca 
co., and Gilman from La Plata co. and Montezuma co. 
