_Pyrrhula_, “BRISSON, Orn. 1760.” PALLAS.
GEN. CHAR. Bill very short and thick, higher than long, swollen.
Lower jaw broader at base than upper jaw, and broader than length of
gonys. Nostrils and base of mandible concealed by a thick tuft of
rather soft feathers. Tail nearly even, shorter than the pointed
wings; upper coverts reaching over nearly two thirds the tail.
Middle and hind claws about equal.
This genus is closely related to _Pinicola_, but has a more swollen
and much shorter bill, the lower jaw disproportionately larger, and
wider than long along gonys, instead of being about equal. The nasal
tuft is thicker and more feathery and less bristly than in _Pinicola_.
The upper tail-coverts are much longer, the tail less emarginate.
Other differences exist in the grooves and ridges of the palate, which
need not be here referred to. The middle claw is about equal to hind
claw; not longer, as in _Pinicola_.
[Line drawing: _Pyrrhula cassini._
49955]
The genus _Pyrrhula_ is an Old World one; extending across from the
Atlantic to the Pacific, six or eight species or varieties being
recognized by naturalists. All have the back ash-colored; the wings
and tail, with top of head, lustrous black; the under parts ash,
generally with vermilion on the cheeks and chin, sometimes extending
over the whole under surface; the rump and crissum white: the females
similar, but lacking the vermilion. Its introduction into the North
American fauna rests on the collecting by the naturalists of the
Russian Telegraph Expedition in Alaska of a specimen which—if a
full-plumaged male, as stated—differs from all of its congeners in the
entire absence of any vermilion tint.
Pyrrhula cassini, BAIRD.