Plate CCCLXXIII. Male and Female.
Male with the head, cheeks, a small portion of the throat, wings, and
tail, black; a band on the hind neck, the fore part and sides of the
neck, a portion of the breast, and the sides, dull reddish-orange; the
middle of the breast, axillars, and lower wing-coverts, light yellow;
back black, streaked with yellowish-red; rump of the latter colour;
two bands on the wings, the base and outer margins of the primaries,
the tips of the secondaries, and a terminal patch on the inner webs of
the outer three tail-feathers, white. Female with the upper parts
light yellowish-brown, streaked with darker, the lower light
yellowish-brown; the axillars and lower wing-coverts light yellow;
white wing-bands narrower than in the male.
_Male_, 8-1/2, wing 4-1/4.
Central Table-land of Rocky Mountains. Common. Migratory.
Black-headed Grosbeak, Fringilla melanocephala, Aud. Orn.
Biog. v. iv. p. 519.
GENUS XVII. COCCOTHRAUSTES, Briss. GROSBEAK.
Bill of moderate length, extremely robust, almost as broad as the
head, not compressed, conical, pointed; upper mandible rather broader
than the lower, with the dorsal line slightly convex, the ridge
indistinct, the nasal sinus extremely wide and short, the sides
rounded, the edges simply arched and a little inflected, the notches
almost obsolete, the tip a little deflected; lower mandible with the
angle extremely short and wide, forming the fourth of a circle, the
dorsal line straight, the sides at the base and in their whole length
convex, the edges involute, the tip acute; nostrils basal, round.
Plumage blended. Wings of moderate length, pointed, the outer three
quills nearly equal, the second longest. Tail of moderate length,
emarginate. Tarsus short, compressed, with seven scutella; toes
moderate, hind toe stout, broad beneath; outer toe a little longer
than the inner, and adherent at the base. Claws moderate, or rather
stout, arched, compressed, acute. Upper mandible concave beneath, with
three prominent lines.