Fringilla frontalis, Say, Long’s Exped. R. Mts. II, 1824, 40. (For other synonymes see under the different varieties.)
Sp. Char. Bill short, nearly as deep as broad; culmen much curved, commissure arched; lower mandible nearly as deep as the upper. Tail more than three fourths as long as wing, slightly emarginated. Wing and tail feathers without reddish edges; lower tail-coverts
and abdomen with broad streaks of dusky. General color above, including wings, tail, and upper tail-coverts, brownish-gray, the feathers with lighter edges. Beneath white, each feather with a medial streak of dusky. Male. A broad frontal crescent, extending back in a superciliary stripe to the occiput, a patch on the rump (not the upper tail-coverts), and an area covering cheeks, chin, throat, and jugulum red,—bright scarlet in spring, rosy in fall. Female without the red, which is replaced by a uniform streaking. Young resembling the female, but streaks less sharply defined; those above more distinct. Wing-coverts broadly edged with light earth-brown.
This species inhabits the western regions of North America, from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific; and Mexico, except, perhaps, the eastern portion. In this range of distribution it occurs in three races, which, taking extreme examples, are well marked, but when a large series is examined are found to grade insensibly into each other.
The above description is general, being modified only by additional characters in the several races. The normal plumage is perhaps represented in the central race,—the true frontalis, as restricted,—which inhabits the Middle Province of the United States, and is nearly as described above; the red of the male of this style is of a bright scarlet tint, and in nearly all specimens shows a tendency to escape the boundaries above indicated. As we go south into Mexico, we find the red strictly confined within those limits, very sharply defined; and, under the tropical influence, intensified into a very bright carmine tint; this latter is the C. hæmorrhous of authors. Following the var. frontalis westward, we find it gradually changing, the red invading more and more the other portions, until, in specimens from the coast of California and from Cape St. Lucas, it is spread over all portions, except the anal region, wing, and tail,—though always brightest within those outlines which confine it in the two preceding varieties. In extreme examples of the latter race,—the C. rhodocolpus of Cabanis,—the red even obliterates the streaks on the abdomen. The spreading of the red is seen in other birds of the Pacific region, this case being exactly paralleled by the Sphyropicus ruber, in its relation to S. nuchalis or S. varius.
The females and young of the three races are quite difficult to distinguish from each other, the locality being the best means of identifying them.
Carpodacus frontalis, var. frontalis, Gray.
CRIMSON-FRONTED FINCH; BURION.
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.