520 



FRINGILLIDiE. 



Euspiza sulphurata, Sicinh. Ibis, 1860, p. 359, 18G1, p. 46 ; id. P. 

 Z. S. 1863, p. 378 ; Gray, Hand-l. B. ii. p. 112, no. 7680 (1870) ; 

 Swinh. P. Z. S. 1871, p. 388; id. Ibis, 1875, p. 451. 



Adult male in breeding-plumage. General colour greenish grey 

 washed with pale yellow ; the head and mantle paler and more 

 sulphur-yellow, the latter with broad mesial streaks of black ; the 

 scapulars like the mantle ; the rump and lower back uniform and 

 more distinctly ashy grey ; upper tail-coverts ashy with yellowish 

 edges ; lesser wing-coverts ashy with a yellowish tinge ; median 

 and greater series blackish, edged with ashy and tipped with yel- 

 lowish white, the greater coverts slightly rufescent on the outer 

 margins ; bastard-wing, primary-coverts, and quills blackish, edged 

 with ashy olive, the secondaries externally rufescent, the innermost 

 with whitish margins, so as to resemble the inner greater coverts ; 

 centre tail-feathers light brown, the others blackish, the outer one 

 for the most part white, excepting a longitudinal mark along the 

 end of the outer web and an oblique basal mark on the inner web ; 

 penultimate feather with the white much reduced and forming a 

 large wedge-shaped mark on the inner web ; the third feather with 

 only a small white mark near the end of the inner web ; ear-coverts 

 greenish grey like the hind neck ; lores, feathers in front of the eye, 

 and a spot at base of chin dusky blackish ; feathers below the eye, 

 cheeks, and under surface of body sulphur-yellow, paler on the lower 

 breast and abdomen, and still lighter on the under tail-coverts, 

 which are whitish tinged with yellow ; sides of breast and Hanks 

 ashy olive, the latter streaked with black ; axillaries and itnder 

 wing-coverts white, washed with pale yellow ; quills ashy below, 

 whitish along the edge of the inner web. Total length 525 inches, 

 culmen 0-4, wing 2-85, tail 2-25, tarsus 0-7. 



Considerable difference exists in the full-plumaged males with 

 regard to the amount and intensity of the black stripes on the back. 

 In winter the adult male appears to be always more broadly streaked 

 with black on the back, the black centres becoming attenuated 

 during the breeding-season ; the mantle is also washed with rufous 

 like the inner secondaries. 



The adult female in breeding-plumage differs but little from the 

 male, being duller in colour and rather browner on the mantle, 

 which is very broadly streaked with black ; it is further distinguished 

 by the absence of the black lores and chin-spot. Total length 4*75 

 inches, culmen 0-45, wing 2*75, tail 2*1, tarsus 0*7. 



Young birds in ivinter plumage. Only differ from the plumage 

 of the adult female in being rather more olive-brown, with the ru- 

 fescent edges to the feathers of the mantle and inner secondaries broad 

 and strongly pronounced ; lower back and rump uniform ashy olive ; 

 the under surface of the body is clear yellow, with a tinge of saffron- 

 colour on the throat and chest. 



Bab. Northern and Central China ; Japan. 



a, b. S ad. sk. Japan. H. Seebohm, Esq. [P.]. 



c. cJ imm. sk. Anioy, April (P. Sivinhoe). H. Seebohm, Esq. [P.]. 



