NON-INDIGENOUS BRITISH BIRDS. ii 



Family FRINGILLID^. Genus Carpodacus. 



Sub-family FRlNG/LLlNyE. 



SCARLET ROSE EINCH. 



Carpodacus erythrinus {Fa/las). 



(British : Very rare abnormal autumn migrant.) 



Single Brooded. Laying season, May, June, and early July. 



Breeding area : Palaearctic region. The Scarlet 

 Rose Finch breeds from the Baltic Sea across Europe 

 and Asia to the Pacific. Its most westerly breeding- 

 grounds are situated in Finland, the Baltic Provinces of 

 Russia, and North-east Prussia (Silesia, Konigsberg, 

 Memel). Thence they extend eastwards into the Urals, 

 the Caucasus, Asia Minor, Turkestan, Central Asia, 

 Cashmere, and Mongolia to Kamtschatka, and north- 

 wards to about the latitude of the Arctic circle. 



Breeding habits : The Scarlet Rose Finch arrives 

 at its breeding grounds in Western Europe about the 

 middle of May. Its winter quarters are in India ! 

 Whether this species pairs annually or remains united 

 for life appears not to be known. It probably pairs 

 every year. The favourite haunts of this bird are marshy 

 forests and swamps with plenty of underwood. In 

 Prussia its chief summer haunts are alder swamps ; it 

 also shows some partiality for dense willow thickets. 

 During the earlier periods of the breeding season the 

 male makes himself very conspicuous, sitting on the top- 

 most twigs of the bushes and small trees, and uttering 

 from time to time his singular song, which is described 

 as a loud clear whistle, which arrests the attention at 

 once. The Scarlet Rose Finch, if not gregarious, must 

 at least be very social during the breeding season, for 

 Herr E. Hartert records that in North-eastern Prussia 



