66 Coues’s History of the Evening Grosbeak. 
at once the far-away land of the dipping sun, and the tuneful ro- 
mance which the wild bird throws around the fading light of day. 
Clothed in the most striking color-contrasts of black, white, and gold, 
he seems to represent the allegory of diurnal transmutations ; for 
his sable pinions close around the brightness of his vesture, just as 
the night encompasses the golden hues of the sunset ; while the 
clear white space enfolded in these tints foretells the dawn of the 
morrow. 
not New England). — Sumich., Mem. Bost. Soc. I, 1869, 550 (near City of 
Mex.). — ?C'oop., Am. Nat. Ill, 1869, 75 (Montana). — Coop., B. Cal. I, 1870 
174. — Coues, Key, 1872, 127.- — Aik., Pr. Bost. Soc. XY, 1872, 199 (Wyoming). 
— Ames, Bull. Minnesota Acad. 1874, 58. — ? Coop., Am. Nat. VIII, 1874, 
17. —Coues, B. N. W. 1874, 104. — B. B. & R., N. A. B. I. 1874, 449, pi. 
22 , f. 1 . — Hensh., Rep. Orn. Specs. 1874, 108 (Arizona). — Hensh., List B. 
Ariz. 1875, 158. — Hensh., Zool. Expl. W. 100 Merid. 1875, 239. — Brewer, 
Pr. Bost. Soc. XVII, 1875, 451 (Essex Co., N. Y., in winter). — Snow, B. 
Kans. 3d ed. 1875, 6 (Kansas, in November; common). — Tiffany, Amer. Nat. 
XII, July, 1878, 471 (Minneapolis, Minn. ; habits). 
Hcsperiphona vesper tina var. montana, Ridg., apud B. B. & R., N. A. B. 
I. 1874, 449, pi. 22 , f. 4. — Ridgw., Bull. Essex Inst. V, 1873, 181 (Colorado). 
Coccotkraustes bonapartii , Less., “Illust. de Zool. 1834, pi. 34 ( 9 , Melville 
Isl.).” 
Loxicc bonapartii, Less., “ Bull. Sc. pi. XXV.” 
< f adult. General color sordid yellow, overlaid with a sooty-olive shade, 
deepest on the fore parts, the crown becoming quite black, clearest on the under 
parts behind. A frontal patch prolonged into a short streak over each eye, the 
scapulars, and rump, quite pure yellow. Wings and tail black ; several of the 
inner secondaries, with the inner half of the series of greater wing-coverts, 
white. Lining of wings partly black, partly yellow. A narrow black line 
around base of upper mandible. Tibiae black. Bill greenish-yellow. Feet 
apparently dusky flesh-color. Length, 7|-8| inches; wing, 4 - 4| ; tail, 2| - 
3 ; bill, f long, § deep, and f broad at the base. 
9 adult. Brownish ash-color, paler below, and whitening on the belly, irregu- 
larly mixed or patched with yellowish. Lining of wings and axillars bright yellow. 
White speculum on the wing incomplete, the feathers being partly black, and 
sometimes having the white part tinged with yellow ; the primaries, which are 
entirely black on the male, having also large white areas on the inner webs, 
and being sometimes tipped with white. 
The adult males differ much in the shade of the yellow, and degree to which 
it is obscured by the sooty-olive. Taking age and sex also into account, the 
range of variation in color is wide, but the remarkable species cannot be mis- 
taken for any other. 
Specimens from the Southern Rocky Mountain region and southward are 
said to have the bill less turgid, the' yellow frontlet narrower, and less white on 
the wings. Such constitute Mr. Ridgway’s variety montana, a typical example 
of which I have seen from Illinois. 
