Chrysomitris psaltria (I, 474). See Am. Journ. of Science and Arts, Vol. IV, December, 1872, for a special paper upon the races of this species and their relation to climatic regions.
Chrysomitris psaltria, var. arizonæ (I, 476). On the 7th of May, 1872, Dr. Cooper saw a single specimen (male), which he had no doubt was of this bird, at Encinetos Ranch, thirty miles north of San Diego. It was feeding with other species among dry sunflowers. He also saw another near San Buenaventura in January, 1873.
Loxia “leucoptera, var.” bifasciata (I, 483). At the time when the synopsis of the species of this genus was prepared, we had not seen any specimens of the European White-winged Crossbill. A recent examination of specimens from Sweden has convinced us, however, that the species is entirely distinct from leucoptera, and more nearly related to curvirostra, with the several forms of which it agrees quite closely in the details of form and proportions, as well as in tints, with the exception of the markings of the wing.
Leucosticte tephrocotis (I, 504). The specimens collected by Mr. Allen in Colorado, mentioned in the foot-note on page 505, and there said to be the summer dress of L. tephrocotis, we now believe to be a distinct form, which may be named var. australis, Allen, characterized as follows:—
Leucosticte tephrocotis, var. australis, Allen, MSS. Leucosticte tephrocotis, Allen, Am. Nat. VI, No. 5, May, 1872.—Ib. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zoöl. Vol. III, No. 6, pp. 121, 162.
Char. Similar to var. tephrocotis, but without any gray on the head, the red of the abdomen and wing-coverts bright carmine, instead of dilute rose-color, and the bill deep black, instead of yellow tipped with dusky. Prevailing color raw-umber (more earthy than in var. tephrocotis), becoming darker on the head and approaching to black on the forehead. Nasal tufts white. Wings and tail dusky, the secondaries and primaries skirted with paler; lesser and middle wing-coverts and tail-coverts, above and below, broadly tipped with rosy carmine, producing nearly uniform patches; abdominal region with the feathers broadly tipped with deep carmine or intense crimson, this covering nearly uniformly the whole surface. Bill and feet deep black.
Male (No. 15,724, Mus. C. Z., Mt. Lincoln, Colorado, July 25, 1871; J. A. Allen). Wing, 4.20; tail, 3.10; culmen, .45; tarsus, .70; middle toe, .60.
Female (Mt. Lincoln, July 25; J. A. Allen). Wing, 4.00; tail, 3.00. Colors paler and duller, the red almost obsolete.
Hab. Breeding on Mt. Lincoln, Colorado, above the timber-line, at an altitude of about 12,000 feet. (July, 1872, J. A. Allen.)
Since the descriptions of the several stages of L. tephrocotis were cast, we have received from Mr. H. W. Elliott—Assistant Agent of the United States Treasury Department, stationed at St. Paul’s Island, Alaska, an accomplished and energetic collector—numerous specimens of L. griseinucha in the breeding plumage. The fact that these specimens have the gray of the head as well defined as do examples in the winter plumage, while the red is at the same time much intensified, induces us to modify our views expressed on pages 504, 505, in regard to Mr. Allen’s Colorado specimens, and to regard them as representing a race which must have the head dusky at all seasons, and not a seasonal phase of var. tephrocotis. The winter plumage probably differs from that described above only in the red being of a soft, rather dilute, rosy tint, instead of a harsh bright carmine; the bill is also probably yellow in winter, since in the breeding specimens of griseinucha from Alaska the bill is black, while in winter examples it is yellow, with only the point dusky.