I go SCARLET GROSBEAK. 



Northern Siberia to Kamchatka ; further south, in the elevated regions 

 of the Caucasus, Asia }vlinor, Turkestan, the Himalayas, and Central 

 Asia to Northern China. In winter it is very common throughout 

 the greater portion of the Indian region. It is rather late in return- 

 ing to its northern breeding-quarters in Europe, and near Warsaw it 

 does not arrive until about the middle of !May ; but in the drier 

 climate of Siberia it is earlier. It leaves towards the end of August 

 or early in September. 



The nest, which is rather deep, and slenderly constructed of dry 

 grass-stalks with a lining of horsehair, is placed in the fork of a small 

 bush, generally in the neighbourhood of water. The eggs, usually 

 5 in number, are laid about the middle of June, and of a deeper 

 greenish-blue than those of the Bullfinch, sparsely marked with 

 reddish-brown and almost black spots : measurements 75 by "57 in. 

 The food consists of seeds, grain and berries, and Col. E. A. Butler 

 says that the bird is partial to the ^yatery nectar in the flower of the 

 Indian coral-tree, while Jerdon observed it eating bamboo-seeds ; the 

 young are probably fed on insects. The song, generally uttered 

 from the top of a bush or low tree, is a loud clear whistle, tu-ivhif, 

 tu-tii-i, several times repeated in rapid succession, whence the Hindoo 

 name ' Tuti.' 



The adult male has the top of the head glossy carmine-red ; 

 mantle warm brown with a reddish tinge ; quills and tail dark brown, 

 with paler huffish margins ; rump and upper tail-coverts carmine-red ; 

 chin and throat rich rose-red ; breast rose-pink, fading to brownish 

 on the flanks ; bill yellowish-brown ; legs reddish-brown. Length 

 5"5 in. ; wing 3'25 in. The female has no red tints, the general 

 colour of the upper parts being dull striated olive-brown, but the wing- 

 coverts and inner secondaries are much more conspicuously edged 

 with dirty white than in the male ; the lower parts are dull white 

 with a huffish tinge on the throat and breast, and numerous hair- 

 brown streaks from the latter to the flanks ; a brown stripe descends 

 from either corner of the lower mandible. The young are at 

 first rather greyer in tint than the female, but cock birds soon begin 

 to show a distincdy yellowish tinge on the ear-coverts, rump, and the 

 outer margins of the quills and tail-feathers. It seems probable that 

 the rosy hue is not assumed until after the second moult. 



This species has been separated by some modern authors from 

 Pyrrhula, under the generic name Ca)-podacHS of Kaup ; the dis- 

 tinctions consisting mainly in the shape of the bill and in the smaller 

 amount of covering; to the nostrils. 



