398 Birds of Colorado 
three or four inches above the ground, and was almost 
completely hidden from sight. 
Genus CARDINALIS. 
Rather large Finches with conspicuous crests ; bill very large, stout 
and conical, much deeper than broad ; depth about equal to culmen ; 
wing rather short and rounded ; tail longer than the wing and slightly 
rounded ; tarsus moderate about -4 of wing ; plumage wholly red in 
males, partly so in females, with a black face-patch. 
The Cardinals are found throughout the southern United States 
and southwards to British Honduras; and again in northern South 
America. Only one species has been met with in Colorado. 
Cardinal. Cardinalis cardinalis. 
A.O.U. Checklist no 593—Colorado Records—Baird, Brewer & 
Ridgway 74, p. 516 (in error) ; Cooke 97, pp. 108, 167. 
Description.—Male—General colour above dull crimson, washed 
with grey, brightest on the head and crest ; forehead, lores, chin and 
throat black ; below bright crimson-red, becoming duller on the under 
tail-coverts and tail; iris brown, bill bright orange-red, feet horny- 
brown. Length 8-40; wing 3-75; tail 4-00; culmen -65; tarsus -93. 
The female is dull olive-grey above; part of the crest, the wings 
and tail dull crimson; below a buffy-grey, fading to nearly white 
posteriorly; a young male is very like the adult female, but 
lacks the facial shield and has the bill dusky horn. 
Distribution.—The eastern United States from about New York to 
the Gulf and westwards to eastern Kansas, breeding throughout its 
range. 
The Cardinal can only be considered an accidental visitor to Colorado. 
Only two records are given by Cooke. One was taken near Denver 
December 5th, 1883, according to A. W. Anthony, another was seen 
by H. W. Nash near Pueblo, November 28th, 1895. The bird is rather 
a favourite cage-bird, and in both these instances may quite possibly 
have escaped from captivity. 
Aiken tells me that Baird, Brewer and Ridgway’s record is based 
on a mistake; he himself has never seen it in El] Paso co.; but he has 
been recently informed of its occurrence during the winter of 1908-9 on 
Wright’s Ranch in the Monument Valley a few miles north of Pueblo. 
Genus ZAMELODIA. 
Large Finches with very stout, swollen and deep bills, the lower 
mandible distinctly deeper than the upper; culmen rounded and 
nostrils exposed ; wing long and pointed, the ninth (outer) primary 
