46 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



[Hesperiphona^ respeHina (not Fringilla vespertina W. Cooper, 1825) Bonapaete, 



Consp. Av., i, 1850, 505, part (supposed young). 

 Coccothraustes macuUpennis Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lend., 1860, 251, pi. 163 



(Orizaba, Vera Cruz; coll. P. L. Sclater ;=adult female). — Sclateb and Sal- 



Tix, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lend., 1860, 398 (Altotenango, Guatemala). — Salvin, 



Ibis, 1865, 206. 



Genus LOXIA Linnaeus. 



Loxia Linnaeus, Syst. Xat.,ed. 10, i, 1758, 171. (Tjrpe, liy elmination, L. curvi- 



rostra Linnaeus. ) 

 Cntcirostra Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm., etc., Brit. Mus., 1816, 12. (Type, Loxia 



curvirostra Linnteus. ) 

 Curtirostra Brehm, Ornis, iii, 1827, 85. (Type, Loxia currimstra Linnaeus.) 



Large to rather small arboreal finches, with the falcate maxilla and 

 mandible crossed at tips. 



Bill much compressed terminally, with both maxilla and mandible 

 falcate and crossed in adults; culmen and gonj'S both distinctly' ridged; 

 mandibular tomium straight for basal half, concave thence to the tip; 

 maxillary tomium without distinct basal deflection. Nasal plumules 

 conspicuous, quite concealing nostrils. AVing long (about five and a 

 half times as long as tarsus), pointed (three outermost primaries longest, 

 the ninth decided^ longer than the sixth); primaries exceeding sec- 

 ondaries bj' more than twice the length of the tarsus. Tail short (more 

 than half as long as the wing) and narrow, deeply emarginated or 

 forked, more than half hidden by the upper coverts. Tarsi short, little 

 if any longer than commissure, not more than one-third as long as the 

 tail, shorter than' middle toe with claw: lateral claws falling short of 

 base of middle claw; hind toe as long as inner toe, its claw shoi'ter 

 than its digit, but strongly curved. 



CuJni'f!. — Adult males red, with wings and tail black or dusky, the 

 former with or without white bands. Adult females and immature (?) 

 males with olive-greenish and j'ellowish replacing the red. Young 

 .conspicuously streaked. 



RaiKje. — Palsearctic and Nearctic regions in general, except warmer 

 parts; in the latter, south to high mountains of Guatemala; Philippine 

 Islands (in mountains). 



KEY TO THE SPECIES AND SUBSPECIES OP LOXIA. 



a. "Wings dusky relieved only by narrow and usually indistinct edgings of paler. 

 [Lox'ia ciirrirostra^) 

 b. Smallest: Wing of male ad. averaging 87.38, tail 50.04, exposed culmen 16.51, 

 depth of bill at base 10.16, tarsus 16.51, middle toe 13.72; colors slightly 

 darker and duller. (Northern and eastern North America. ) 



Loxia curvirostra minor (p. 47) 



^ Loxia curvirostra curvirostra has been introduced; from Europe, into the United 

 States, and may, unless lost by interbreeding with the native races, have become 

 naturalized. It is intermediate in size between L. c. bendirei and L. c. stricklandi, 

 but is duller colored than either. 



