282 



FRIXGILLIDJE. 



I. Rhynchostruthus socotranus. 



Rhynchostruthus socotranus, Scl. $• Hartl. P. Z. S. 1881, p. 171. 

 Rhynchostruthus riebecki, Hartl. P. Z. 8. 1881, p. 954, pi. 72. 



Adult male. Above dusky asby brown, with the crown dusky 

 black, biackish towards the forehead, the throat dusky blackish ; a 

 rather large and well-defined mark occupying the ear-coverts, silky 

 white, somewhat shaded with fulvous ; greater wing-coverts and 

 outer margins of inner secondaries bright pale yellow, forming a 

 very conspicuous longitudinal hand ; scapulars and lesser wing- 

 coverts like the back ; under wing-coverts varied with whitish and 

 yellow ; outer tail-feather entirely dusky, the two centre feathers 

 dusky, indistinctly fringed with yellow, the remainder dusky black- 

 ish, with bright yellow margins ; under tail-coverts whitish ; breast 

 and abdomen greyish buff; bill black. Total length 5-1 inches, 

 culrnen Ooo, wing 3-4, tail 1*1, tarsus 0-75. (Sartlaub.) 



Adult female. Not different, excepting for the somewhat pure 

 ash colour of the breast and abdomen. 



The typical examples are evidently young birds with uniform 

 brown upper surfaces and blackish stripes on the breast ; but there 

 are evidences of black feathers on all parts of the head and throat, 

 showing that the birds are passing into a black-headed stage, and 

 proving that R. riebecM is only the fully adult bird. 



Hub. Island of Socotra. 



a, b. rf iniin. sk. Socotra, March 13, 1880 British Association [P.]. 

 (I. B. Balfour). (Types of species.) 



35. RH0D0SPIZA. 



Erytkrospiza, auct. recent, {nee Bp.). 



£%iM 



Head of Bkodospica obsoleta. 



Range. From Syria and Persia to Central Asia, Afghanistan, 

 Yarkard, Turkestan, and the western bend of the Hoangho River. 



1. Rhodospiza obsoleta. 



Fringilla obsoleta, Licht. in Eversm. Reis., Ankang, p. 132 (182-3). 

 Carpodacus obsoletus, Gray, Gen. B. ii. p. 384 (1844); Licht. 



Nomencl. Av. Berot. p. 48 (1854) ; Gray, Hand-l. B. ii. p. 102 



no. 7523 (1870). 

 Erytkrospiza obsoleta, Bp. 8( Schl. Monogr. Loxiena, p. 2i<, pi. 32 



(1850) ; Bp. Consp. i. p. 535 (1850) ; Fi/ippi, Viogg. Pert, p.- 349 



