534 
GRANIVOROUS BIRDS. 
The Bullfinches possess many of the habits of the Crossbills, to 
which they are nearly allied ; they subsist on the hardest seeds, from 
which they separate the husk. Some of the foreign species have 
exceedingly thick and strong bills, capable of cleaving the most com- 
pact and woody shells of seeds. Most of the species inhabit cold 
and temperate climates, being spread through Europe, America, 
and Northern Asia ; there are a smaller number in Africa, and none 
in Australia y some exist also in tropical America. They live in for- 
ests, building in trees and bushes, and lay 4 or 5 eggs. 
CRIMSON-FRONTED BULLFINCH. 
(Pyrrhula frontalis, Bonap. Am. Orn. i. p. 49. pi. 6. fig. 1. [male] 
fig. 2. [female]. Fringilla frontalis , Say, nec. Lath. Phil. 
Museum, No. 6276-7.) 
Sp. Citaract. — Dusky-brownish; fore part of the head, throat, 
breast, and rump crimson ; belly whitish, spotted with dusky ; tail 
nearly even. — Female dusky-brown, the feathers edged with 
whitish ; no crimson ; beneath whitish, streaked with dusky. 
For this new species we are again indebted to the 
industry of Mr. Say, who described it in Long’s Expedi- 
tion. It was met with near to the base of the Rocky 
Mountains, in the month of July, on the plains of the 
Arkansa, and consequently passes the breeding season in 
that country, having thus probably a very limited north- 
ern range. To the South, however, they have since been 
observed by Mr. Bullock on the table land of Mexico. 
They live, like the Purple Finch, in small scattered flocks, 
and were observed to frequent the tops of the cotton- 
wood poplars ( Populus angulata ?) 9 feeding partially on 
their buds. Their voice is said to resemble that of the 
preceding bird, but we are not informed of their possess- 
ing any musical powers. 
This species is about 5^ inches long. The head near the front, 
neck beneath, and upper portion of the breast crimson, deeper near 
the bill and over the eye ; cheeks, and space from bill to eyes grey- 
ish. The occiput, the neck above, and on the sides, brown, with a 
