FINCHES, SPARROWS 



(524) Leucosticte tephrocotis 

 tephrocotis Swains. 



(Gr., white, varied; gray ear). 



GRAY-CROWNED ROSY 

 FINCH. Sexes similar in plumage. 

 Head blackish-brown, shading inlo 

 brown on the back and breast and 

 into rosy on the rump and under 

 parts; nape and sides of the head 

 to the eyes, hoary-grayish; wings 

 and tail blackish, the feathers mar- 

 gined with rosy-white, this color 

 appearing almost solidly on the wing 

 coverts. L., 6.75; W., 4.25; T., 

 2.7s; B., .45. Nest — Of grasses 

 and mosses, lined with feathers; on 

 the ground; three or four white eggs. 



Range — Breeds in mountain 

 ranges from central Alaska south to 

 the Sierras in Cal. In winter, east 

 to Sask. and, casually, to Neb. 



these notes are most frequently heard during flight. They 

 are exceedingly tame and let one approach almost near 

 enough to touch them before flying; when one tal^es wing, 

 the whole flock goes trooping away to another feeding place. 



Most birds return to certain localities each season to breed. 

 Not so the Crossbills; they have no one place that they call 

 home. They simply wander about and, when the nesting 

 season arrives, camp out wherever they happen to be. 

 They nest early, often while snow is still deep on the ground, 

 locating their rather flat structures in coniferous trees at any 

 height from the ground. The nests are made of twigs and 

 bark, and lined with hair, fine rootlets, and sometimes moss. 

 Red Crossbills are much more numerous than White-winged 

 ones. While, in favorable localities, in the Northern States, 

 the former species may occasionally skip a year without 

 putting in an appearance, the latter sometimes are not 

 reported for six or seven years. 



ROSY FINCHES or LEUCOSTICTES are really birds 

 of the west and northwest. But one species, the Gray- 



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