432 FRINGILLID.E. 



extending to above the middle of the ear-coverts ; eyelid dusky 

 blackish ; ear-coverts dark brown, streaked with blackish like the 

 crown ; cheeks and feathers below the eye crimson, with silvery-white 

 bases ; throat, fore neck, and breast crimson, with silvery-white 

 centres to the feathers and blackish bases, the breast rather duller 

 coloured than the throat ; abdomen earthy brown, the feathers centred 

 with black ; sides of breast, sides of body, and flanks dark brown, 

 witb blackish centres to the feathers ; thighs earthy brown, mottled 

 with black ; under tail-coverts rosy, paler on the edges, with dark- 

 brown centres ; under wing-coverts ashy brown, centred with blackish 

 and washed with rosy, especially on the edge of the wing ; axillaries 

 yellowish brown, dusky on the inner web ; quills below dusky, asby 

 along the inner edge. Total length 7-5 inches, culmen Ot>, wing 

 4 - 4, tail 3, tarsus 095. 



Adult female. Different from the male. General colour above 

 dark ashy brown with an olive tinge, with blackish centres to the 

 feathers, broader and more distinct on the mantle ; the rump rather 

 paler and more olive, the blackish centres to the feathers narrower : 

 wing-coverts and quills dark brown, with paler brown edges to the 

 feathers, especially on the greater coverts ; upper tail-coverts like 

 the rump ; tail-feathers dark brown, edged with lighter brown • 

 crown of head like the back, and similarly streaked with black ; 

 lores dusky, tipped with ochreous buff, as also the feathers of the 

 forehead ; eyebrow and feathers round the eye ochreous buff, streaked 

 with black ; ear-coverts with rather broader black centres to the 

 feathers ; cheeks and under surface of body ochreous buff, the throat 

 broadly streaked with black ; the fore neck and chest with strongly 

 marked spots of black, the lower breast and abdomen more narrowly 

 streaked with black, the latter rather ashy brown ; sides of body and 

 flanks ashy brown, with broad black centres to the feathers ; thighs 

 and under tail-coverts ashy brown, with pale edges and blackish 

 centres to the feathers ; under wing-coverts and axillaries ochreous 

 buff, with ashy-brown bases ; quills below dusky, more ashy along 

 the inner edge. Total length (r5 inches, culmen 0-155, wing 4, tail 

 2*7, tarsus - 9. 



The series of male birds in the Hume Collection shows the species 

 at every season of the year, and there is little variation between 

 winter and summer plumage. The male shot in December is 

 rather lighter brown, with the blackish mesial markings rather 

 more strongly indicated ; the forehead has the crimson feathers 

 tipped with dark brown, and there are pale brown tips to the 

 rosy feathers of the rump and to some of the breast-feathers. 

 Remains of these brown tips are found in many of the breeding 

 birds in which the feathers become more or less abraded, so that in 

 some examples the silvery-white centres to the crimson feathers of 

 the underparts become entirely worn out, and a more uniform 

 appearance results. 



The females vary little at different seasons of the year, but they 

 are rather lighter in colour during the winter, especially about the 

 head, which is more ashy than the back and the forehead ; sides of 



