175 



CRIMSON-FRONTED PURPLE FINCH. 



+• Erythrospiza frontalis, Say. 

 PLATE CXCVII.— Male. 



This species was first described under the name of Fringilla frontalis, by 

 Mr. Thomas Sat, who discovered it in the course of Long's Expedition to 

 the Rocky Mountains. It was afterwards figured and described in the con- 

 tinuation of Wilson's American Ornithology, by the Prince of Musignano, 

 who then considered it as belonging to the genus Pyrrhula, but who has 

 since placed it in a small group, to which he gave the generic appellation of 

 Erythrospiza. It is very closely allied, not only in colour, but in size and 

 form, to the Purple Finch, Erythrospiza purpurea, with which one might 

 at first sight readily confound it, but from which it differs in having the bill 

 somewhat more bulging, with convex outlines, and in several other cha- 

 racters, such as the more elongated and less emarginate tail. For the 

 specimen from which the figure has been taken I am indebted to Mr. 

 Gould of London. It is reported to be from California. I have not met 

 with this species, and, in as far as I know, its habits have not been described. 



Male, 6i, wing, 2>\. 



Bases of the Rocky Mountains. Rare. Migratory. 



Fringilla frontalis, Say, Long's Exped., vol. ii. p. 40. 



Crimson-necked Bullfinch, Pyrrhula frontalis , Bonap. Amer. Orn., vol. i. pi. 1. 

 Crimson-fronted Bullfinch, Pyrrhula frontalis, Nutt. Man., vol. i. p. 534. 

 Crimson-necked Finch, Fringilla frontalis , Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. v. p. 230. 



Adult Male. 



Bill shortish, robust, bulging, conical, pointed; upper mandible with the 

 dorsal outline a little convex, the back and sides rounded, the edges direct, 

 overlapping, slightly arched, with a faint sinus, and a little deflected at the 

 base; lower mandible with the angle short and wide, the dorsal line ascend- 

 ing and very slightly convex, the back and sides convex, the edges sharp 

 and inflected. Nostrils basal, roundish, open, partially concealed by the 

 feathers. 



Head rather large, broadly ovate; neck short; body full. Feet of mode- 

 rate size; tarsus slender, compressed, covered anteriorly with seven large 

 scutella, of which the upper are rather indistinct, laterally with two long 



