FINCHES, SPARROWS, ETC.: ROSY FINCH 
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were observed and they were singing from the tops of high conifers. In 1926, 
Ligon found a few of the birds above 10,000 feet in the Sangre de Cristos—on August 
3, two at the head of the Pecos, near Pecos Baldy; on November 19, a few on Gold 
Hill, and on November 29, one near Costilla Creek; also in Taos County. With the 
exception of a pair collected southwest of Cimarron some years previous, these 
are the only ones met with by Ligon in his extended field experience.]—W. W. 
Cooke. 
Nest. —From 7 to 30 feet from the ground in coniferous trees; made rather 
compactly, with a framework of small twigs enclosing the nest proper, which is 
composed of coarse weeds and straws lined with a fine wiry weed. Eggs: Usually 
3, greenish blue, irregularly spotted and blotched with brown and black, with lilac 
shell spots. 
Food. —Largely coniferous buds and wild fruit, but also weed seed and a little 
animal matter, including cocoons and caterpillars, grasshoppers, ants, and spiders. 
General Habits. —The large pink or red and gray Rocky 
Mountain Pine Grosbeaks were occasionally met with in the spruce 
and fir timber of the Upper Pecos and in the Taos Mountains, and 
several specimens collected showed the character of their food. One 
young one had its crop and gizzard stuffed full of small white oval 
seeds, while an adult’s stomach contained the same seeds with the 
addition of a few spruce needles, a spruce flower, and a small green 
caterpillar. The throat of another adult had the skin actually puffed 
out with small green buds and some insects, as if ready for regurgita¬ 
tion. The gizzard held the same seeds and also, apparently, the same 
insects. Still another had its gizzard full of seeds and insects. 
The pair taken in the Culebra Mountains had been feeding on the 
ground and both crops and gizzards were filled mainly with sprouting 
seeds of a small legume, with the addition of some smaller seeds. 
The Pine Grosbeaks of whatever form are among the most attrac¬ 
tive birds of high altitudes, their large size, soft coloration, musical 
songs, sometimes heard around camps, and their gentle and often 
trustful ways, combining to endear them to the field worker. 
Additional Literature.—Herrick, F. H., Home Life of Wild Birds, 135- 
136, 1901.— Ray, M. S., Condor, XIV, 157-187, 1912 (California Pine Grosbeak).— 
Treganza, Edward and A. O., Condor, XV, 106-110, 1913. 
GRAY-CROWNED ROSY FINCH: Leucosticte tephrocotis tephrocotis Swainson 
Description. — Male: Length (skins) 5.7-6.8 inches, wing 4-4.4, tail 2.4-2.8, 
bill .4-.5. Female: Length (skins) 5.6-6.5, wing 3.8-4.1, tail 2.4-2.S, bill .4-6. 
Tail emarginate, basal tufts white. Adult male in summer: Forehead and part of 
crown black bordered by ash-gray band , not descending below level of eyes; rest of head 
and body mainly reddish brown, feathers of rump and upper and under tail coverts 
tipped with pink; wings and tail dusky with pinkish and sometimes partly scarlet 
edgings, wing coverts tipped with pink; bill black. Adult male in minter: Similar 
to summer male but back and scapulars with lighter brown edgings, feathers of 
breast with narrow, pale margins, the pink markings softer, and the bill yellowish 
