Rocky Mountains. 41 



beneath and upper portion of the breast brilliant crimson, most intense 

 near the bill and over the ejes; rump and tail coverts paler crimson; be- 

 tween the bill and the eyes f^ray; bill dark brown colour; lower mandible 

 paler; occiput, neck above and each side brown tiug-ed with reddish, 

 the feathers margined with pale; back dusky, brownish; wings and tail 

 fuscous, the latter feathers edged on the inner side with white; the prima- 

 ries broadly margined within towards the base with white and exteriorly 

 edged with grayish: coverts and tertials 6dged with dull grayish; inferior 

 portion of the breast, the belly and vent whitish, each feather with a broad 

 fuscous line 



Female. Di"=ky brown, the feathers margined each side with dull 

 whitii.h; wings luscous, the margining and edging of the feathers not so 

 distinct as in the male; all beneath, excepting the tail and wing feathers 

 whitish, each feather with a brown streak. 



This bird is much more clearly allied both in size and colouring to the 

 Purple Finch (F. purpurea) than to the Crimson-headed Finch (F. rosea) 

 and may prove to be only a variety of it when a comparison of many indi- 

 viduals can be made. The male, from which the above description is drawn 

 out, may not be in its Hiltimate state of plumage, as it seems probable that 

 the middle of the head, the upper part of the neck, and the back, in the 

 perfect plumage, is more obviously tinted with crimson, tlian we have ob- 

 served those parts to be. It differs, however, from the Purple finch in the 

 tint of the crimson colour, which is far more lively and brilliant, and also 

 in having each feather of the belly, vent, and inferior tail-coverts broad- 

 ly streaked with brown. We apply to it provisionally the nameof F.yVon- 

 talis — A prepared specimen of this bird is in the Philadelphia Museum. 



VOL. II. 



