690 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
over eye, and rump rose-pink, orange-red, or scarlet; 1 rest of upperparts brownish 
gray, head and back often tinged with reddish, back not sharply streaked , wings and 
tail dusky, wings with grayish edgings; throat and breast, reddish; belly whitish , 
sharply and closely streaked with brown. (Red areas much deeper and brighter in 
glimmer than in winter.) Adult female: Upperparts grayish brown, indistinctly 
streaked; underparts white, broadly streaked. Young: Similar to female but 
back more distinctly streaked, underparts more narrowly and less distinctly streaked; 
wing coverts tipped with buffy. 
Comparisons. —The sharp uniform streaking of the underparts distinguish 
the adult male House Finch from the Cassin. (See p. 688.) Individuals suggest 
dichromatism in varying amounts of yellow. 
Range. —Upper and Lower Sonoran Zones from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, 
eastern Wyoming (and east to Plains in western Kansas and middle Texas) south 
to northern Mexico, and northern half of Lower California. Winters as far north 
as southern Washington and Colorado. 
State Records. —When Colonel McCall visited Santa Fe in March, 1850, he 
was much interested in the House Finch which he found there in abundance 
and already beginning to nest. He saw young on the wing by the middle or latter 
part of April and noted that the old birds raised a second and even a third brood, 
so that some were still sitting on eggs even in August. Thinking these birds were 
different from those found in Colorado by Say, he gave them the name familiaris 
and to a single pair he saw that seemed to lack the usual red color he gave the 
name obsrurus. Both these forms, however, were found to be the same as Say’s 
frontalis. 
The House Finch is one of the abundant birds of most of New Mexico east to 
near Colfax, August 28,1913, and along Red River September 16, 1913 (Kalmbach); 
Sierra Grande, August 10-22, 1903 (Howell); Montoya, June, 1903 (Bailey); 
Carlsbad, August 1-14, 1910 (Dearborn); and the Guadalupe Mountains, August 
11,1901 (Bailey). Young in the nest were seen June 15, 1903, at Montoya (Bailey), 
while some pairs were still engaged in building on June 26. The next year half 
grown birds were found June 2, near Rinconada (Surber). [On June 13,1916, fresh 
eggs were found in nests at Chloride (Ligon).l The species ranges from the lowest 
valleys up to the mesas and the lower mountain slopes. [From May 6 to 10, 1920, 
it was abundant in the Animas and Burro Mountains, Dealing freely (Ligon).J 
It is a regular and common breeder to 7,000 feet, above which altitude the numbers 
decrease, but it occurs up to 7,500 feet ou the Rio Mimbres, May 11-30, 1906, 
and 7,200 feet in the Mogollon Mountains, October 31, 1906 (Bailey); 7,800 feet 
in Hondo Canyon, August 13, 1904 (Gaut); Tres Piedras, 8,000 feet, July 11-19, 
1892 (Loring); and even to 9,000 feet at Cloudcroft, July 23-August 1, 1909 (Green). 
In general the species is non-migratory, but it is probable that some of the 
occurrences at the higher altitudes are fall wanderers several hundred feet above 
where they had nested, although nests have been found to 8,000 feet at Halls Peak 
(Barber). Late in fall, they were common in Union County, November 5, 1915 
(Ligon). 
In winter they were very abundant at the south end of the San Mateo Moun¬ 
tains December 7-10, 1915 (Ligon). [On the Rio Grande Bird Reserve they were 
abundant November 23-December 9, 1916; and on the Carlsbad Bird Reserve, 
common, in December, 1916 (Willett); at Engle great numbers were seen December 
3, 1918 (Ligon).1 They winter to 6,500 feet at least and at the localities above 
this altitude, where they breed but leave temporarily in the winter, they return so 
*Dichromatism in the Genus Carpodacu «, Richard C. MoGregor, Condor, III, 13-14, 1901. 
