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BLACK-AND- YELLOW-CROWNED FINCH. 



-f Fringllla atricapilla, Gmel. 

 PLATE CXCIII.— Male. 



The only account which I have received of this handsome Finch, long 

 since known to the ornithologist, is from Mr. Nttttall: — "We first observed 

 the young of this species on the central table-land of the Rocky Mountains, 

 in the prairies, and mostly running on the ground. We heard no note from 

 them. We afterwards saw a few stragglers, in the early part of winter, in 

 the thickets of the forests of the Columbia river, near Fort Vancouver, 

 accompanying the Fringilla leucophrys. It is probable that they come 

 there to pass the cold season. They are equally seen at this time, and until 

 late in the spring, in the woods and thickets of Upper California. 



Male, 8, wing 3/ ¥ . 



Rocky Mountains and Columbia river. Rare. Migratory. 



Emberiza atricapilla, Gmel. Syst. Nat., vol. i. p. 875. 



Black-and-yellow-crowned Finch, Emberiza atricapilla, Aud. Orn. Biog. vol. v. p. 47. 



Adult Male. 



Bill short, stout, narrower than the head, conical, somewhat compressed 

 toward the end, acute; upper mandible with its dorsal outline nearly straight, 

 the ridge convex and obscure, the sides rounded, the edges somewhat 

 inflected, with a very small notch at the end, the tip a little declinate; lower 

 mandible with the angle short and rounded, the dorsal line slightly convex, 

 the sides rounded, the edges involute, the point acute. The gap-line nearly 

 straight, at the base a little declinate; the palate concave. Nostrils basal, 

 roundish, open, partially concealed by the feathers. 



Head rather large, ovate; neck short; body full. Legs of moderate length, 

 rather stout; tarsus of moderate length, compressed, covered anteriorly with 

 seven scutella; toes rather large, scutellate above, the first stronger, the 

 lateral nearly equal, the third and fourth connected at the base. Claws 

 rather long, moderately arched, slender, compressed, laterally grooved, acute. 



Plumage full, soft, and blended. Wings of ordinary length; the first 

 quill two and a half twelfths shorter than the second, which is longest, but 

 scarcely exceeds the third, which in like manner is very slightly longer than 



