LOXIA EUBKIFASCIATA. 



(RED-BANDED CROSSBILL.) 



Loxia curvirostra rubrifasciata, Bp. & Schleg. Monogr. Loxiens, p. 5 (1850). 



" Loxia rubrifasciata, Brehm, in litt.," iid. ut supra. 



Crucirostra rubrifasciata, L. Brehm, Naumannia, 1853, p. 194. 



Crucirostra erythroptera, id. torn. cit. p. 199. 



Loxia bifasciata, Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xii. p. 442 (1888, partim). 



Rothbindige Kreuzschnabel, German. 



Figurce notabiles. 



Bp. & Schlegel, Monogr. Lox. pi. v.; L. Brehm, Naumannia, 1853, pi. iii. figs. 13, 14 

 (heads only). 



Ad. simillima L. curvirostra, sed alarum fascia duplici, in <$ rubicunda et in ? cinerea. 



Adult Male (near Moscow, April 9th, 1893). Similar in plumage to red males of Loxia curvirostra, but, if 

 anything, a trifle brighter in tone of colour ; median and larger wing-coverts tipped with rosy white, 

 forming two distinct bands across the wing ; the two innermost secondaries also tipped with rosy 

 white : beak, legs, and iris as in Loxia curvirostra. Total length about 5"5 inches, culmen 0'82, 

 height of bill at base 0-45, width of lower mandible at base 04, wing 3 m 7, tail 2 , 25, tarsus - 72. 



Adult Female {fide L. Brehm) . Resembles the female of L. curvirostra, having the upper parts greyish 

 green; the head greenish yellow, greenish grey on the nape, everywhere indistinctly marked with 

 dark spots ; the rump pale golden yellow ; underparts grey on the breast and flanks, washed with 

 yellowish green, and marked with indistinct spots ; under tail-coverts blackish grey with broad whitish 

 margins ; on the blackish-grey upper surface of the wings there are two somewhat indistinct greyish 

 bands. 



Young {fide L. Brehm). Upper parts blackish, the feathers with whitish and greenish-white margins; the 

 dull blackish wing- and tail-feathers narrowly margined with greenish yellow; rump pale yellow with 

 blackish stripes ; underparts whitish, the breast greenish, striped with dull black ; on the wings two 

 distinct greyish-green bands. 



The present species is one that has puzzled me not a little, and I was for long doubtful as to 

 whether it could be treated as distinct from Loxia curvirostra. 



Dr. Ludwig Brehm was the first to describe it, and states (I. c.) that " in size, form, and 

 colour it resembles L. curvirostra, but has bands on the wing which are small in the female, 

 but strongly developed in the male, and in the fully adult male they are rose-coloured " ; and 

 he subdivides it again into two subspecies on account of size, the larger of which he calls 

 Crucirostra rubrifasciata, and the smaller Crucirostra erythroptera. Dr. Sharpe (Cat. B. Brit. 



