Species and Varieties.
Common Characters. Adult. Above streaked with dusky upon a brownish, or brown and whitish, ground; wing-coverts tipped with whitish or pale brown. Beneath whitish, streaked on the sides with dusky. An indistinct, lighter superciliary stripe. Male. Rump tinged with rose-pink. Female. Rump not tinged with pinkish. Juv. Without any red, and with the whole lower parts thickly streaked.
A. Crown with a quadrate patch of crimson, in adult; throat and chin with a dusky spot; quills and tail-feathers not edged conspicuously with white. ♂ with the breast tinged with red.
1. A. canescens. Rump unstreaked white (both sexes, at all seasons); the lower tail-coverts with white shafts; the red tinge on the breast in the ♂, of a delicate pale rosaceous pink tint.
Bill very short and thick, its height through the base nearly equalling the length of the culmen. Wing, 3.20; tail, 2.65. Bill: culmen, .35; height, .30. Hab. Greenland … var. canescens.
Bill much smaller, more acute, its height through the base much less than the length of the culmen. Wing, 3.00; tail, 2.50. Bill: culmen, .30; height, .22. Hab. Continental arctic America … var. exilipes.
2. A. linarius. Rump always streaked; lower tail-coverts with dusky shaft-streaks; the red tinge on the breast of the ♂ of a rosaceous-carmine tint.
Bill about .35 in length by .22 in height; wing, 2.80; tail, 2.40. Hab. Continental arctic and cold temperate North America … var. linarius.
Bill about .40, or more, in length, by .30 in height; wing, 3.20; tail, 2.60. Hab. Greenland in summer, and Continental arctic and cold temperate North America in winter … var. holbölli.
B. Crown without any red; throat and chin without any dusky spot; quills and tail-feathers of adult male edged conspicuously with white. ♂ without red tinge on the breast.