374 FEINGILLID^I. 



Dryospiza pusilla, Licht. Nomencl. Av. Berul, p. 46 (1854). 

 Orsegithus pusillus, Cab. J. f. 0. 1854, p. xciv, pi. 1 ; Severtz. Turkest. 

 Jevotn. pp. 64, 116 (1873) ; Bogd. B. Cauc. p. 64 (1879). 



Adult male. General colour above streaked, the feathers black in 

 the centre, with golden-yellow margins, the lower back more mealy, 

 the rump-feathers yellow with black centres ; lesser wing-coverts 

 black, edged with golden yellow ; median and greater coverts 

 blackish, edged and tipped with ashy whitish, slightly tinged with 

 yellow ; bastard- wing and primary- coverts blackish, edged with 

 ashy yellowish ; quills dusky brown, edged with golden yellow, the 

 secondaries margined with this colour near the base, and with 

 whitish towards the end of the feathers, which are also fringed with 

 whitish ; upper tail-coverts black, rather broadly edged with ashy 

 white ; tail-feathers blackish, edged with whitish, tinged with 

 golden yellow near the base : crown of head dusky blackish, the 

 forehead crimson : nape, hind neck, and sides of neck like the 

 back, but rather more narrowly streaked ; lores and base of fore- 

 head dusky blackish ; feathers round *ye and sides of face, ear- 

 coverts, cheeks, throat, and fore neck dusky blackish : under surface 

 of body golden yellow, the breast mottled with black spots ; abdo- 

 men ashy whitish ; sides of body and flanks pale golden yellow, 

 streaked with black ; thighs and under tail-coverts golden yellow, 

 the longer ones white, with black centres ; under wing-coverts and 

 axillaries golden yellow, with ashy bases ; quills below dusky, ashy 

 along the inner edge : " bill dull black, the base of the lower 

 mandible slightly tinged with brown, gape whitish; iris so deep 

 brown as to appear black " {W. Davison). Total length 4 - 8 inches, 

 culmen 0-3, wing 2-95, tail 2-05, tarsus 0-6. 



Adult female. Similar to the male, but not so brightly coloured, 

 the frontal patch not so brilliant, and the golden yellow on the 

 back and underparts paler. Total length 4*5 inches, culmen 0*3, 

 wing 2-65, tail 1'9, tarsus 0-5. 



With the advance of the breeding-season the plumage of the 

 male becomes much darker, the yellow of the breast becoming 

 abraded, so that the black overspreads the chest and flanks ; the 

 base of the secondaries becomes bleached and forms an alar speculum. 



The adult male in winter plumage scarcely differs from the 

 summer plumage, the light edges to the feathers being more marked, 

 the golden yellow more intense on the wings and under surface of 

 the body, and the dusky blackish on the sides of the face and throat 

 somewhat obscured by ashy margins, the hinder crown overshaded 

 with ashy grey, and the nape uniform ashy ; inner secondaries 

 broadly edged with sandy brown. 



Young (Eonda district, September 20, 1879). Differs from the 

 adult in wanting the red forehead. The general colour of the 

 upper surface is pale sandy brown, streaked with black, the head 

 like the back and streaked with dusky blackish : the rump and 

 upper tail-coverts less distinctly streaked ; lesser wing-coverts 

 like the back ; median and greater series blackish, edged with paler 

 sandy brown, the secondaries similarly coloured, the primaries 



