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.
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.
CASSIN’S BULLFINCH.
P. coccinea, var. cassini, Baird, Trans. Chicago, Ac. Sc. I, 1869, ii, p. 316.—Dall & Bannister, Tr. Chic. Ac. I, 1869, 281 (Alaska). P. cassini, Tristram, Ibis, 1871, 231.—Finsch, Ornith. N. W. Amerikas, 1872, 54.