FINCHES, SPARROWS, ETC.: PYRRHULOXIA 
673 
purring, interrogative character” (MS). At one nest found by Pro¬ 
fessor Merrill, while the female was brooding her eggs, the male flamed 
about with various improvisations of his usual song. 
When telling us of the Pyrrhuloxia met with in the early survey 
days, Doctor Heermann speaks of its “ raising its crest erect as it moves 
actively about in search of food” (1859, No. 1, p. 16). These crest move¬ 
ments, on the part of birds fortunate enough to possess such guides to 
their emotions, always add a delightful touch of individuality and 
vivacity. 
Additional Literature.—Torrey, Bradford, Nature’s Invitation, 274-276, 
1904. 
TEXAS PYRRHULOXIA: Pyrrhul6xia sinuata texana Ridgway 
Description. — Male: Length (skins) 7.5-8.1 inches, wing 3.5-3.9, tail 3.7-4.2, 
bill .6-.7. Female: Length (skins) 7.1-8.1 inches, wing 3.4-3.8, tail 3.3-4.3, bill 
.6. Adult male: Similar to the Arizona Pyrrhuloxia, but bill larger and stouter 
and coloration darker; region around base of bill decidedly dusky; upperparts dark 
gray. Adult female: Similar to the female Arizona, but upperparts darker and grayer, 
the anterior underparts and sides strongly suffused with gray. 
Range. —Lower Sonoran Zone in southeastern New Mexico, southern Texas, 
and northeastern Mexico. 
State Records. —Taken 50 miles southeast of Carlsbad and observed at 
Carlsbad (Ligon). 
ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK: Hedymeles ludovicianus (Linnaeus) 
Description. — Male: Length (skins) 6.5-7.2 inches, wing 3.8-4.1, tail 2.9-3, 
bill .6-.7. Female: Length (skins) 6.7-7 inches, wing 3.7-4, tail 2.7-2.9, bill .6-7. 
Bill extremely heavy, short, conical. Adult male in summer: Head, neck, back, and 
scapulars, uniform black, rump and upper tail coverts while, tail and wings black and 
white, tail with white on ends of outer feathers, wings with two white bars, white 
patch at base of primaries, and white tips of tertials; under wing coverts and 
axillars, and patch on chest, rose red; rest of under parts white; bill light brownish, 
legs and feet grayish. Adult male in winter: Upperparts brown, streaked with black, 
wings and tail much as in summer; underparts brownish, the foreparts and sides 
streaked, chest tinged with rose-color. Adult female (summer and wdnter): Similar 
to adult male in winter, but brown of head cut with buffy or whitish stripes; under 
wing coverts and axillars yellow instead of rose-pink. Young male in first winter: 
Like adult female but under wing coverts rose-pink instead of saffron and usually 
some pink on the breast. The full mature breeding plumage is not acquired until 
the second spring. 
Range. —Breeds in Lower Canadian and Transition Zones from south-central 
Mackenzie, northern Manitoba, central Ontario, southern Quebec, and Cape Breton 
Island south to Georgia (in mountains), to New Jersey, Ohio, Missouri, and central 
Kansas; winters from southern Mexico and Yucatan to Colombia, Venezuela, 
and Ecuador; “rare, sporadic visitant” to California, accidental to Arizona, New 
Mexico, and Colorado. 
State Records. —Although the Rose-breasted Grosbeak has been reported 
as an accidental visitor to Arizona and Colorado, apparently the first record for 
New Mexico comes from Kellogg, who saw a full-plumaged male, May 20, 1923, at 
