Male. Head, and whole of back, dark slaty-grey ; frontal band, and band across rump 

 black ; lower part of rump white ; wing-coverts dark slaty-grey, basal half of the greater 

 coverts black, like the primaries and outer tail-feathers ; secondaries, upper tail-coverts, 

 and centre tail-feathers glossy purplish black ; the black frontal band encircled with 

 bufEsh white, which blends into the grey of the head and throat ; breast, belly, and sides 

 orange red ; under wing-coverts, middle of belly, and under tail-coverts white ; flanks, 

 and thighs pale slaty-grey ; axillaries white tinged with orange at the tips ; under sur- 

 face of wings ashy ; " iris dark brown ; bill black ; feet fleshy-brown " (Prjevalski) : 

 length 5'9, wing 3'2, tail 2'95, tarsus 0'7, culmen 0'38. 



Female. Head and hind neck ashy-grey, blending into the brown of the back ; whole of 

 back and scapulars chocolate-brown ; the narrow white band of the face strongly tinged 

 with yellowish buff on the cheeks and throat ; breast, belly, and sides pale chocolate- 

 brown ; rest of plumage as in the male. 



Young Male. Similar ; the buffish-white band encircling the face more extended on the 

 cheeks and throat ; breast bright orange, very slightly tinged with red ; under wing- 

 coverts and axillaries greyish white. 



Ohser. Mr. R. B. Sharpe remarks (Cat. B. B. Mus. vol. xii. p. 4.55) that " Mr. Hume's 

 series consists of seven specimens, all varying but slightly in the extent and depth of 

 the scarlet breast, which in some is tinged with olive-yellow. One specimen has the 

 breast ashy-grey, with only an appearance of scarlet, but is otherwise quite adult. The 

 scarlet breast is therefore evidently gradually acquired." 



Our first knowledge of the existence of this beautiful Bullfinch is con- 

 tained in a letter from Mr. Edward Blyth (late curator of the Calcutta 

 Museum), which was published in the ' Ibis ' for 1862, wherein the 

 •writer says : " Lieut. Beavan has just returned here from Darjeeling, 

 where (though chiefly on Tonglo mountain, 10,000 feet, on the Nepal 

 frontier of Sikkiin, and some thirty miles from Darjeeling) he has 

 collected many good things in a very short time. Of novelties, a fine new 

 true Bullfinch (Pyrrhida erythaca), being the fourth which the Himalaya 

 has yielded." 



This is only a single instance of the many valuable acquisitions to our 

 scientific knowledge of the Avifauna of the vast mountainous regions of 

 the Himalayas visited by Lieut. Beavan, who says : " I came across a 

 flock of this new species on my way up Mount Tonglo in April 1862. 

 There wex'e two males and several females picking about the bushes near 

 the path. The females all escaped ; but 1 secured both the males, though 

 one was too much damaged to preserve ; the other I sent to Mr. E. Blyth, 

 •who described it in the 'Ibis' for 1862 (p. 389), and in the following 



