Mr. J. K. Lord states that he met with a flock of these rare and beautiful birds on the summit of the Cascade Mountains. It was late in October, and he observed a flock of nine or ten birds pecking along the ground, and feeding somewhat in the manner of Larks. Puzzled to know what birds they could be at such an altitude so late in the year, he fired among them and secured three, a female and two males in fine plumage. (Perhaps var. littoralis.)
In July of the following summer, on the summit of the Rocky Mountains, near the Kootanie Pass, he again saw these birds feeding on the ground. He shot several, but they were all young birds of the year. It is therefore rendered probable that these Finches breed on the Cascade and Rocky Mountains, in both at about the same altitude, or seven thousand feet, coming into the lowlands during the winter, as it is not likely that they could endure the cold of the summits, or find there a sufficiency of food, the winter being very severe, and the snow three feet, or more in depth.
Mr. Charles N. Holden, a promising young ornithologist of Chicago, who observed these birds among the Black Hills, near Sherman, at an altitude of eight thousand feet above the sea, has furnished me with interesting observations in regard to them. He informs me that he did not meet with these birds there in summer. They came in small flocks in the coldest part of winter. Their food consisted of small seeds and insects. In some instances he found the crops so distended with seeds as to distort their shape. They become very fat, and are excellent eating. In one specimen, a young male, the plumage was almost black, as described at the beginning of this article. These birds were quite numerous, and nearly forty specimens were secured. He was not able to learn anything in reference to their breeding-places. Except by dissection, he found it difficult to distinguish between a young male of the first year and a female.
If the specimen referred to in the foot-note at the beginning of this article as collected by Mr. Allen on Mount Lincoln be really this species, an important advance in its history will have been reached, showing that their summers are spent in the high mountain summits, and that the rest of the year is passed lower down on the plains.
Leucosticte tephrocotis, var. campestris, Baird.
THE GRAY-CHEEKED FINCH.
Leucosticte campestris, Baird, Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 163, 1870.
Sp. Char. Body light chocolate-brown, the feathers edged with paler, those of the back with rather darker centres. Feathers of anal region, flanks behind, crissum, rump, and upper tail-coverts, wing-coverts, and primary quills, edged with rose-red; secondary quills and tail-feathers with pale fulvous; little or no trace of rose on under wings. Forehead and patch on crown blackish; the hind head to nape, cheeks immediately under the eye (but not including the auriculars, except, perhaps, the most anterior) and base of lower mandible all round, ashy-gray. Throat dusky. Bill yellowish, with dusky tip. Legs dusky.
No. 41,527, near Denver City, Col., January, 1862 (Dr. C. Wernigk). Length, 7.00; wing, 4.00; tail, 3.00; exposed portion of first primary, 3.10. Bill from forehead, .60; from nostril, .40; tarsus, .75; middle toe and claw, .80; claw alone .24; hind toe and claw, .80; claw alone, .37.
Hab. Colorado Territory (Dr. Wernigk); Wyoming Territory (Mr. H. R. Durkee).