FINCHES, SPARROWS, ETC.: ARKANSAS GOLDFINCH 703 
State Records. —On October 31, 1908, Birdseye saw three Pale Goldfinches 
at Farmington and collected one of them; a few had been seen the previous year 
a few miles distant at Shiprock (Gilman). These two records from the north¬ 
western corner of New Mexico seem to be all that is known of the species in the 
State, but as it occurs in Arizona, Texas, and Mexico, it is probably more common 
in New Mexico than the records would indicate.—W. W. Cooke. 
ARKANSAS GOLDFINCH: Astragalmus psaltria psaltria (Say) 
Plate 62 
Description. — Male (skins): Length 3.8-4.1 inches, wing 2.4-2.6, tail 1.5-1.6, 
bill .3-4, tarsus .5. Female (skins): Length 3.8-4.1 inches, wing 2.4-2.5, tail 
1.4-1.6, bill .3—r4, tarsus .5. Adult male: Ear coverts and entire upperparts, includ¬ 
ing tail and wings , black; tail with most of its feathers extensive^ white basally; 
wings with broad while edgings; entire under surface yellow. Adult female: Upper- 
parts plain dull olive-green; wings and tail as in male but black duller and white 
more restricted, sometimes obsolete on tail; underparts light greenish yellow. 
Young: Similar to female, but tinged with buffy, and wing coverts tipped with 
buff. Immature male: Crown black, rest of upperparts grading from olive-green to 
solid black on ear coverts and back; underparts yellow. 
Range. —Northern Colorado and New Mexico to central northern Texas and 
south throughout Mexico except northwestern and extreme southern portions; 
casual in Wyoming. 
State Records. —Throughout the lower parts of New Mexico, the Arkansas 
Goldfinch is one of the common summer birds. It ranges across the State from 
north to south and breeds east to Folsom, late in August 1903; Sierra Grande, 
common August 10-22, 1903 (Howell); Cimarron, common on August 29 and along 
Red River, Colfax County, September 10, 1913 (Kalmbach); Santa Rosa, a few 
about May 25, 1903; base of the Capitan Mountains, June 13, 1899 (Bailey), and 
July 18, 1903 (Gaut); valleys of the Sacramento Mountains, and Ruidoso Valley, 
common September 2-18, 1902 (Hollister); and Guadalupe Mountains, August 
2, 1901 (Bailey). [In 1917 and 1918, it occurred in great numbers in the Rio 
Grande, nesting in the cottonwoods. A half completed nest was found July 11, 
1917, in a walnut tree at Chloride; a nest with young about ready to fly August 
2, 1917, in Albuquerque; many young just out of nests but following parents, 
October 16, 1917, in Agua Chiquito and James Canyons, Sacramento Mountains 
near Mayhill; young in the nest October 22, 1917, at Alamagordo; young in cotton¬ 
woods October 7, 1918, at Monticello (Ligon).] It breeds as high as Santa Fe, 
7,000 feet (Henshaw); Fort Wingate, 7,000 feet (Coucs); and to 7,500 feet at Glorieta; 
in the fall ascending slightly and occurring at Tierra Amarilla, 7,700 feet, September 
11-14, 1904, and occasionally as high as 8,500 feet at Costilla, where it was noted, 
August 25, 1904 (Bailey). The species seems to be most common at 6,000-7,000 
feet and only a few breeding records have been made below 5,000 feet, as at Ship- 
rock, about 5,000 feet (Gilman); Santa Rosa, 4,600 feet (Bailey); and Mesilla 
3,800 feet (Merrill). It seems strange that it should not be more common in the 
lower parts of New Mexico, since it breeds in some of the hottest parts of Mexico. 
It usually deserts New Mexico for the winter, and, though most of the birds 
leave by the end of October, some were still present at Tularosa, November 4-14, 
1902 (Gaut), and a flock of about a dozen was seen near Shiprock, November 9, 
1908 (Birdseye). A few presumably of this species remained in 1900, to January 
30, at Albuquerque (Birtwell), and a few have remained all winter at Mesilla 
(Merrill). 
