38 FRINGILLID.E. 



web ; inner secondaries chocolate-brown ; tail-feathers blackish, 

 edged with brown, the centre ones cinnamon-brown externally, ashy 

 towards the ends, which are white ; the remainder blackish brown, 

 ashy towards the end of the outer web, and broadly tipped with 

 white on the inner ; crown of head pale cinnamon-buff, inclining to 

 chestnut on the occiput and nape ; a narrow line along the fore- 

 head, lores, feathers round eye, and at base of upper mandible, and a 

 narrow line at base of lower mandible, black ; ear-coverts and 

 cheeks cinnamon-buff; throat black, with an iudistinct line of ashy 

 whitish on either side ; sides of neck ashy grey like the hind neck ; 

 rest of under surface of body from the fore neck downwards pale 

 vinaceous brown ; lower abdomen white ; sides of body and flanks 

 like the breast ; thighs ashy ; under tail- coverts white ; under 

 wing-coverts and axillaries white, with dusky bases to those near 

 the edge of the wing ; quills below blackish, white at base of 

 inner web, and with a white patch on inner web of primaries ; 

 bill leaden blue, the base of the lower mandible fleshy ; feet and 

 toes greyish brown ; iris white or greyish white. Total length 

 7 inches* culmen 0-8, wing 4-2, tail 2-15, tarsus 0*85. 



The winter plumage of the adult male only differs from the 

 summer ijlumage in having the bill fleshy white, with some distinct 

 indications of ashy-whitish fringes to the feathers of the throat. 



Individuals vary much in the depth of colour on the head, the 

 crown being almost entirely buff in some specimens, with only the 

 forehead cinnamon-buff. The underside of the mandible seems 

 never to get blue like the rest of the bill in summer. 



A specimen sold to the Museum by the late M. Parzudaki as 

 V. alpinus seems to me to be only an ordinary 0. coccothraustes in 

 worn breeding-dress, with the bill blue, and the head bleached to a 

 yellowish buff, the sides of the face, occiput, and nape being chest- 

 nut. 



The adult female is much duller in colour than the male, and has 

 the head ashy brown, chocolate- brown on the hinder sides of the 

 crown, occiput, and nape ; forehead and sides of faces dull ochreous 

 brown ; the remainder of the upper surface is like that of the male, 

 except that the secondaries are edged with drab-grey, and the 

 primaries edged with the same colour towards the tip ; the under 

 surface of the body is ochreous brown, the throat black, the sides of 

 the body and flanks washed with vinaceous brown as in the male. 

 Total length 6 - 7 inches, culmen 0-75, wing 3'9, tail 2*1, tarsus 0-75. 

 Young. General colour above more dingy than in the adults ; the 

 back chocolate-brown, with dusky tips, ashy bases, and whitish 

 shaft-lines ; lower back and rump paler, the feathers tipped with 

 dusky ; wings as in the old female, but with a yellowish tinge at 

 the end of the median and greater coverts, the outermost of the 

 latter being ashy grey externally : upper tail-coverts and centre 

 tail-feathers pale ochreous brown, the rest blackish, washed ex- 

 ternally with ochreous brown, with a large white spot at the tip of 

 the inner web ; crown of head olive-yellow, the feathers tipped 

 with dusky, brighter yellow on the forehead, which has a narrow 



