Pyrrhula cassini.
Sp. Char. Description of specimen No. 49,955: Upper parts clear ash-gray, as are the alula, and the lesser and middle secondary and the primary wing-coverts. Under parts and the sides of head cinnamon-gray; the inside of wings and axillars, anal region, tibia, crissum, and rump white; wings and tail, including upper tail-coverts, the entire top of head (to level of eyes), the base of bill all round, and the chin, lustrous violet-black. Greater wing-coverts black, with a broad band of ashy-white across the ends; outer primaries, externally, with a narrow border of grayish-white near the ends; inner edges suffused with the same. Outer tail-feathers with an elongated patch of white in the terminal half, along the shaft, but not reaching the tip. Bill black; feet dusky.
Dimensions (prepared specimen): Total length, 6.50; wing, 3.55; tail, 3.25. Exposed portion of first primary, 2.65. Bill: Length from forehead, .44; from nostril, .34. Legs: Tarsus, .75; claw alone, .26; hind toe and claw, .45; claw alone, .25.
No. 49,955, adult male. Nulato, Yukon River, Alaska. January 10, 1867. W. H. Dall (No. 553).
The specimen referred to above is the first record of the occurrence in America of a genus heretofore considered as belonging exclusively to the Old World.
This bird was described in 1869 as a possible variety of P. coccinea of Europe. On submitting the typical specimens to Mr. H. B. Tristram of England, it was decided to be a well-marked and distinct species, as explained in the following extract from a letter received from him.
“The coloration of the back is the same as in males of P. coccinea and P. rubicilla, and differs from the coloration of the ♀ in all three species. In all the ♀ has the back brown instead of slate-colored. Your bird, however, differs from P. coccinea in having the under parts of the same color as the ♂ of P. griseiventris with a slightly redder hue on the flanks, while P. coccinea is a brilliant blazing red. In this your bird is like P. murina of the Azores, but that has no white on the rump.
“Nor can it be ♂ juv. of P. coccinea, because it has the black head, and the young assumes the black head and red breast simultaneously, or rather the red begins first. It differs from P. nipalensis in having a black head and broad white rump, as well as in size.”
Dr. O. Finsch, of Bremen, agrees with Mr. Tristram in considering it as specifically distinct, and says that the long white shaft-streak on the outermost tail-feather is to be considered as one of the peculiar characters, and that in general it resembles the female of P. griseiventris, Lafr., but differs in having the back beautiful ash-gray.