696 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
with dusky tip. Adult female: Similar to adult male and with same seasonal varia¬ 
tion, but averaging paler and duller. 
Comparison. Of the four forms of Rosy Finch that have been found in New 
Mexico, the summer adults can be distinguished by the colors of the head. The 
Brown-capped (see p. 698) is without distinct, clear gray 
markings; the Hepburn (see p. 697) has both cheeks and 
back of head gray; the Gray-crowned and Black are with¬ 
out gray on the cheeks, the checks in the Gray-crowned 
being reddish brown like the body, and in the Black (see 
p. 697), brownish black like most of the body. 
Range. —Breeds in Alpine Zone in mountains of 
east-central Alaska, west-central Yukon, British Colum¬ 
bia, and western Alberta; in winter and in migration 
from Great Slave Lake, Saskatchewan plains, and Mani¬ 
toba south to western Nebraska, New Mexico, Colo¬ 
rado, and Utah. 
State Records. — An adult male Gray-crowned 
Leucosticte was taken by Ligon on November 11, 1919, 
15 miles southwest of Cimarron, at an altitude of 9,000 feet. 
Nest. —In crevices between rocks, on the ground, made of dry grass stems, 
roots, and fine bark, lined with fine grass stems and a few feathers. Eggs: 4, white, 
unmarked. 
General Habits. —In climbing the mountains in their territory, 
the rosy finches, pipits, and ptarmigan are the three birds eagerly 
looked for on the heights. Among the rock piles of passes and summits, 
where marmots and conies live in niches protected from the wind, the 
hardy rosy finches find shelter for themselves and their young, and 
by listening for loud raucous calls and watching for windblown figures 
around the peaks, you may be fortunate enough to catch sight of one 
with its distinctive, charming touches of rose color. 
In Glacier Park we had the good fortune to find a pair flying back 
and forth to their young from the first dwarf spruces to a ridge above 
Piegan Pass, and later found a brood on a warm south slope where 
pipits were also feeding young and an old ptarmigan was leading 
around a brood. Busily hunting for tiny seeds and small insects, the 
Gray-crowns raised their caps so often that the gray border made a 
good flag for interested followers (1918, pp. 173-174). They were also 
seen at a distance, hunting for food on the face of a broad glacier. 
Although the cold and storms of their chosen home make them 
live carefully in summer, it is in winter that their wise adaptation to 
circumstances is best seen. The one that Mr. Ligon secured near 
Cimarron, demonstrated this knowledge of safe hiding places. At 
the time he was returning from a mountain lion hunt in the Sangre 
de Cristo Mountains, at the beginning of winter, when there was a 
little snow on the ground and the wind was blowing a hurricane; but 
in a protected prong of the Agua Fria Canyon, he discovered three 
From Handbook 
(Fuertes) 
Fig. 118. Gray-crowned 
Rosy Finch 
