Swainson's Rosy Finch

“Leucosticte tephrocotis. Swainson’s Rosy Finch. Gray-crowned Rosy Finch. Sexes similar. Adult in breeding plumage or nearly so: Bill and feet black. Nasal plumules white. Frontlet black; rest of pileum hoary-ash, not descending below level of eyes and upper border of auriculars (for when the ash invades the sides of head to any extent, the bird takes the first step toward litoralis, in which the head is extensively hooded in ash). General color, sides of head included, chocolate or liver-brown of varying intensity, many feathers skirted with gray or whitish, especially the interscapulars, which also have dusky centres, and inclining to blackish on chin and throat. Hinder parts of the body above and below, including tail-coverts, rich rosy or carmine red, this color due to broad edgings of the dusky feathers of these parts. Wings and tail blackish, the wing-coverts and primaries edged with rosy, showing nearly continuous in the closed wing; edgings of inner secondaries rosy-white or white.” Elliot Coues, 1884

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