BIEDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMEKICA. 77 



LEUCOSTICTE AUSTRALIS (Allen). 

 BROWN-CAPPED LETJCOSTICTE. 



No distinct or clear gray markings on head/ 



Adult male in summer. — Pileum dusky grayish Drown, becoming 

 nearly or quite black on forehead; nasal tufts whitish; rest of head, 

 together with neck, chest, and breast, deep cinnamon-brown or dull rus- 

 set, deepest on throat, where often, as on chest and breastalso, tinged or 

 flecked with bright red; hindneck, back, and scapulars similar, but 

 duller (between wood brown and broccoli brown), with narrow, more 

 or less indistinct, shaft-streaks of dusky; feathers of rump and upper 

 tail-coverts broadly and abruptly tipped with peach-blossom pink; the 

 remaining portion of the feathers grayish brown, more dusky next to 

 the pink; sides, flanks, and abdomen mostly carmine-pink, the feathers 

 grayish brown beneath the surface; under tail-coverts deep grayish 

 brown or dusky centrally, broadly and abrupt^ margined with pink 

 and white; wings dusky, with lesser and middle coverts broadly 

 tipped with peach-blossom pink, the greater and primary coverts and 

 remiges edged with the same — the color very bright, almost scarlet, 

 on the wing-coverts in some midsummer specimens; tail dusky, edged 

 with pale brownish gray and pinkish; bill and feet black. 



Adult male in winter. — Similar to the summer male, but bill yellow- 

 ish, tipped with dusky; pileum light brownish gray posteriorly and 

 laterally, with dusky centers to feathers; dusky feathers of forehead 

 and crown margined with pale grayish brown, scapulars and interscap- 

 ulars conspicuously margined with pale buJffy brown; feathers of breast 

 and other anterior under parts margined with pale buffy, and the pink 

 markings and areas of a lighter and softer, more rose pink, hue. 



Immature m,ale. — Similar to adult males, as described above, but 

 greater wing-coverts edged with bufify (in winter) or dull whitish (in 

 summer). 



Adult female. — Much duller in color than adult male, but with the 

 same seasonal changes; breast, etc., wood brown; back, etc., more 

 grayish brown, and the pink markings indistinct. 



Young. — Plain light grayish buffy brown, including whole head, 

 much paler on posterior under parts; lesser and middle wing-coverts 

 and tail-coverts tipped with dull light buffy; greater wing-coverts 



^ In very fresh plumage there is a quite well defined area covering exactly the same 

 parts of the pileum as in L. tephrocoiis tephrocotis and L. atrata, that is differently colored 

 from the contiguous parts, but instead of this area being clear and perfectly uniform 

 light ash gray the feathers are dusky brownish gray centrally, margined with light 

 brownish gray, producing a more or less squamate or scale-like appearance; further- 

 more, the brown color whicn borders this somewhat grayish area is decidedly lighter 

 and duller, or less rufescent, than in L. tephrocotis. 



