308 
CRIMSON-NECKED BULLFINCH. 
never seen that species, as our endeavours to obtain a speci- 
men have not been attended with success. The southern re- 
sidence of our bird might lead us to suppose it the Loxia 
[Pyrrhula) violacea, which we have not seen, neither do we 
think the species well established. But if we are to rely on 
the short description given of it, and on Catesby’s figure, we 
cannot perceive much resemblance between them ; their iden- 
tity, however, would not much surprise us, when we consider 
that Catesby’s figure of the Pyrrhula violacea is as much like 
our bird as his figure of the purple finch is like what it is in- 
tended to represent. Having the authority of Say, we consi- 
der it as new, notwithstanding these doubts. 
The crimson-necked bullfinch was procured by Long’s 
party, near the Rocky Mountains, and Say described it in the 
journal of that expedition, under the name of Fringilla fron- 
talis^ adopting that genus in the comprehensive limits assign- 
ed by llliger and Cuvier. The specific name given by Say is 
preoccupied in that genus by an African species ; but, as we 
consider our bird a Pyrrhula^ we think proper to retain his 
name. 
The crimson-necked bullfinch is five inches and a half long. 
The bill and feet are horn colour ; the lower mandible is paler ; 
the irides are dark brown ; the head, neck beneath, and supe- 
rior portion of the breast, are brilliant crimson, most intense 
near the bill and over the eye ; the space between the bill and 
the eye is cinereous grey, as well as the cheeks, and the small 
feathers immediately around the bill ; the crimson feathers are 
brown at base, being red only at tip ; the occiput, and the 
neck above and on each side, are brown, with a reddish cast, the 
feathers being margined with pale ; the back is dusky brown- 
ish ; the rump and superior tail-coverts are crimson, but less 
vivid than that of the head ; the inferior portion of the breast, 
the belly and vent, are whitish, each feather having a broad 
fuscous line ; the general plumage is lead colour at base. The 
wings are blackish brown, the primaries being broadly mar- 
gined within, towards the base, with whitish, and exteriorly 
