_Fringilla frontalis_, SAY, Long’s Exp. II, 1824, 40.—(?) AUD. Orn.
Biog. V, 1839, 230, pl. ccccxxiv. _Pyrrhula f._ BONAP. Am. Orn. I,
1825, 49, pl. vi. _Erythrospiza f._ BON. List, 1838.—IB. P. Z. S.
1837, 112.—(?) AUD. Syn. 1839, 125.—IB. Birds Am. III, 1841, 175,
pl. cxcvii.—GAMB. J. A. N. S. 2d series, I, 1847, 53. _Fringilla
(Pyrrhula) f._ GAMB. P. A. N. S. I, 1843, 262. _Carpodacus f._
GRAY, Gen. 1844-49.—MCCALL, P. A. N. S. V, 1851, 219.—BAIRD, Birds
N. Am. 1858, 415. _? Carpodacus obscurus_, MCCALL, P. A. N. S. V,
June, 1851, 220, Santa Fé, N. M. _Carpodacus familiaris_, MCCALL,
P. A. N. S. VII, April, 1852, 61, Santa Fé, N. M.
SP. CHAR. (♂ 58,589, Great Salt Lake City, Utah, June 1, 1869.) Above
brownish-gray, faintly glossed with red on the nape and back; wing and
tail feathers passing into lighter on their edges, and dorsal feathers
with obsolete shaft-streaks of darker. A frontal band, about as wide
as the length of the culmen, continuing back in a superciliary stripe
to the occiput, throat, jugulum, and a patch on the lower part of the
rump (but not on upper tail-coverts) carmine-scarlet. Rest of lower
parts white, each feather with a medial streak of brown like the back.
Wing, 3.10; tail, 2.60; culmen, .38; tarsus, .65; middle toe, .52.
(♀ 58,590, Salt Lake City, June 21, 1869.) Similar, but red entirely
absent, the throat and jugulum being white streaked with brown, and
the front, rump, etc., grayish, obsoletely streaked with darker. Wing,
3.00; tail, 2.40.
(_Juv._ 40,799, Fort Whipple, Arizona, June 5, 1865.) Generally
similar to the ad. ♀, but more brownish, and the wing-feathers passing
into dull buffy-ochraceous on their edges; streaks beneath narrower
and less distinct.
In winter the red is softer and less sharply defined, and usually of a
more purplish tint; the markings generally more blended.
HAB. Middle Province of the United States, from Rocky Mountains to the
interior valleys of California.
HABITS. This form of the House Finch appears to be a very common bird
throughout the interior region of the United States, extending to New
Mexico and Arizona on the south and southeast, and probably to Mexico.
On the Pacific coast it is replaced by another and closely allied
variety.
Dr. Woodhouse states that his attention was first called to this
interesting little songster while at Sante Fé. It was there known to
the American residents as the “Adobe Finch.” By the Mexicans they were
called _Buriones_. He found them exceedingly tame, building about the
dwellings, churches, and other buildings, in every nook and corner,
and even entering the houses to pick up crumbs. They are never
disturbed by the inhabitants. He adds that at the first dawn of the
morning they commence a very sweet and clear warble, which he was
quite unable to do justice to by any verbal description. He has often
in the early morning listened with admiration and gratification to the
song of this bird, which is deservedly a great favorite. He found it
throughout New Mexico, and beyond. He did not distinguish it from the
coast variety.
Dr. Coues also found this bird very abundant in Arizona, where it is a
permanent resident, but most abundant in spring and fall. He describes
it as eminently gregarious. He found it in all situations, but most
common in the spring among the groves of willows and poplars, on the
buds of which it feeds. He met with this species all the way from the
Rio Grande through New Mexico and Arizona to California, and appears
to have noted no differences between this form and the coast variety.
He also mentions finding, during a few days’ stay in the New Mexican
village of Los Pinos, near Alberquerque, on the Rio Grande, this
pretty little Finch the most common and characteristic of the local
birds. It was there breeding indifferently in the courtyards, sheds,
under porticos or eaves, and also in the forks of trees in the
streets. It had sharp conflicts with the Barn Swallows, whose nests it
often took possession of, and was a lively and most agreeable feature
in the dirty towns which it honored with its presence; and its songs
were at once sweet, clear, and exquisitely melodious.
Dr. Cooper met with these birds among the barren and rocky hills near
the Colorado.
Mr. Ridgway, who found these birds breeding in large numbers at
Pyramid Lake, informs me that their nests were usually placed in
clefts in rocks, or in a cave. Near Salt Lake City they were also very
common, building their nests among the shrubs known as the wild
mahogany, on the hills, but never frequenting the higher regions of
the mountains.
The eggs of this bird, which are not distinguishable from those of the
Pacific coast form, have a delicate pale-blue ground-color, which is
very fugitive, and fades even in the drawers of a cabinet. They are
sparingly marked, chiefly around the more obtuse end, with spots and
lines of black and a dark brown. They are of oval shape, elongate and
pointed at one end, and measure .80 of an inch in length by .60 in
breadth.
Carpodacus frontalis, var. rhodocolpus, CABAN.