2. _Fringilla frontalis_, SAY.—Crimson-necked Finch. _Head_, _throat_, _neck beneath_, and _upper portion of the breast_ brilliant crimson, most intense near the bill and over the eyes; _rump_ and _tail coverts_ paler crimson; between the bill and the eye grey; _bill_ dark horn colour, lower mandible paler; _vertex_, _occiput_, _neck above_ and _each side_ brown, tinged with reddish, the feathers margined with pale; _back_ dusky brownish; _wings_ and _tail_ fuscous, the latter feathers edged on the inner side with white; the _primaries_ broadly margined within, towards the base, with white, and exteriorly edged with a grayish; _coverts_ and _tertials_ edged with dull grayish; _inferior portion of the breast_, the _belly_, and _vent_ whitish, each feather with a broad fuscous line. _Female_, dusky brown, the feathers margined each side with dull whitish; wings fuscous, the margining and edging of the feathers not as distinct as in the male; all _beneath_, excepting the tail and wing feathers, whitish, each feather with a brown streak. This bird is much more closely allied, both in size and colouring, to the purple Finch (F. purpurea) than to the crimson-headed Finch (F. rosea), and may prove to be only a variety of it, when a comparison of many individuals can be made. The male, from which the above description is drawn out, may not be in its ultimate state of plumage, as it seems probable that the middle of the head, the upper part of the neck, and the back, in the perfect plumage, is more obviously tinted with crimson than we have observed those parts to be. It differs, however, from the _Purple Finch_ in the tint of the crimson colour, which is far more lively and brilliant, and also in having each feather of the belly, vent, and inferior tail coverts broadly streaked with brown. We apply to it provisionally the name of _F. frontalis_. A prepared specimen of this bird is in the Philadelphia Museum.—JAMES. From this camp we had a distinct view of the part of the mountains called by Captain Pike the highest peak. It appeared about twenty miles distant, towards the north-west.[159] Our view was cut off from the base by an intervening spur of less elevation; but all the upper part of the peak was visible, with patches of snow extending down to the commencement of the woody region. [159] Having followed in general the course of Cheyenne Creek, the party must have encamped a short distance south of the site of Colorado Springs, where the stream flows into Fountain Creek. From this point there is a magnificent view of Pike's Peak, which Pike himself usually called Grand Peak. His estimate of the height was 18,581 feet; the error was due partially to his assumption of the excessive elevation of 8,000 feet for the plain at the base. See the estimate of Lieutenant Swift, in succeeding volume, note 11.—ED.