year furnished its portrait (' Ibis,' 1863, pi. x.). This was the only 

 occasion on which I observed the species. The elevation was about 9,000 

 feet." 



The following note is appended to Pyrrhula major by Mr. H. E. 

 Dresser in his ' Birds of Europe ' : — " Pyrrhula erythaca (Blyth) is 

 perhaps the rarest of the known species of Bullfinch ; and I am fortunate 

 in being able to examine a specimen belonging to Captain Elwes, a male 

 obtained in Sikkim in April 1864. It inhabits Sikkim, at great altitudes." 



In ' Stray Feathers ' for 1874 we have the following additional notes 

 on this bird from the pen of the great collector Mr. Allan Hume, who 

 writes : — " A specimen of that rare Bullfinch P?/?'?-^^/^ erythaca has recently 

 been obtained for me by Mr. Gammie (to whom I have rej^eatedly owed 

 rare birds and eggs} at Jor Bungala, close to Darjeeling, at an elevation 

 of between five and six thousand feet. As far as I know, this is the first 

 specimen obtained since the late Lieutenant Beavan shot the type on 

 Mount Tonglo. Perhaps others have been met with ; and, if so, I should be 

 glad to learn the localities and dates on which they were procured. 



" Since this was in type Mr. Mandelli has also kindly sent me a speci- 

 men of Beavan's Bullfinch, procured in A^^ril, also at Sikkim. It would 

 appear that it is only an occasional migrant to Sikkim (just as Syrrhaptci< 

 paradoxus in England) ; for we have for years maintained the keenest 

 watch for this species, and heretofore without success. Where can the 

 home of this species be ? Swinhoe has not met with it in China, nor any 

 of the Russians in Siberia, nor our people in Yarkand. However, there 

 is a vast country outside all these explorations, to which P. erythaca must 

 belonir." 



Colonel N. M. Prjevalski in his remarks on the ' Birds of Mongolia,' 

 published in the second volume of Rowley's ' Ornithological Miscellany,' 

 1876, has given all I can gather respecting the exact country in which 

 this bird is supposed to breed. He observes : " We met with it only 

 in Kan su, where it principally inhabits woods of the lower and middle 

 mountain-ranges, and only seldom visits the alpine regions. It is most 

 abundant in the thickets on the sides of mountain-brooks. 



" The voice of the male, either when on the wing or sitting, resembles 

 that of our common Bullfinch, but is somewhat weaker. In spring the 

 males sing very prettily. 



