DESCRIPTION: "Male: General color, black, darker than the frontal patch, deepest anteriorly. Female: 

 General color, dusky slate, lighter than the frontal patch, and with a faint brownish cast on the 

 dorsal region. — In winter-plumaged specimens, there is almost as, much pink on the abdomen as in 

 L. anstralis, while the lesser wing-coverts, together with the middle and greater coverts, form a uni- 

 form patch of this color — a delicate, soft, peach blossom-pink. In younger individuals the greater 

 coverts and tertials are broadly edged with pale clay-color', while the scapulars are widely bordered 

 with the same; the feathers of the breast are widely bordered with dull whitish, and the feathers of 

 the neck, all round, have narrower borders of the same. The gray of the head is not so sharply 

 defined in winter as in the spring specimens, and the bill is dull yellow, with a dusky tip. In the 

 adult female, in spring, there is a less sharp outline to the ash of the crown, and the demarkation 

 between this and the dusky frontal patch is not distinct; the dusky shading gradually along the median 

 line into the color of the occiput. 



"Length, 6.50 to 7.25 inches ; wing, 4.15; tail, 3.09 inches." (Ridgway.) 



GRAY-CROWNED ROSY FINCH. 



Leucosticte tephrocotis Swainson. 



^HE Gray-crowned I,eucosticte, or Gray-crowned Rosy Finch is a resident of 

 the interior of British America, near or in the Rocky Mountains. In winter this 

 handsome bird is common on the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains, especially in 

 Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, etc. None seem to breed in our territory. They appear 

 in small flocks during the coldest part of the w^inter. Their food consists of small 

 seeds and insects. 



"During the winter,^' says Mr. M. Trippe, "I saw several flocks of this bird near 

 Central City, where they were feeding in the dry gulches and about gardens, acting like 

 Lapland Longspurs ; but did not observe £hem elsewhere, though I looked carefully for 

 them throughout a large extent of country. During summer and autumn the Gray- 

 crowned Rosy Finch is common above timber line, where it breeds, ranging higher than the 

 Titlark, and being usually found in the vicinity of snow fields and the frozen lakes near 

 the summit of the range. It is rather shy in such localities, though exceedingly tame 

 in winter; its flight is in undulating lines, like the Crossbill's, and the only note I have 

 heard it utter is a kind of churr, like the call of the Scarlet Tanager. In the latter part 

 of September small flocks, composed of one or two families, may be seen together; and 

 still later in the season they gather into large flocks. They stay above timber line till 

 the close of October or the middle of November, being much hardier than the Titlark; 

 and only descend when driven aw^ay by the furious winter storms. * * * * Since the 

 above w^as penned, great flocks of the Gray -crowned Rosy Finch have appeared near Idaho 

 Springs. In their habits and actions they are very similar to the Snow Bunting. They 

 are perpetually roving from place to place; feed upon the seeds of w^eeds and grasses; 

 and are never at rest for more than a moment at a time, constantly whirling about in 

 close, dense masses, like so many Longspurs." 



"These Finches," says Dr. J. C. Merrill, "were first noticed here (Fort Shaw, Montana) 



