202 FRINGILLID^. 



Length about 8-5 ; tail 3-1 ; wing 5 ; tarsus "85 ; bill from 

 gape 1. 



Distribution. The Himalayas from the Haztira country to Sikhim 

 at considerable elevations ; Manipur. 



Subfamily FRINGILLIN.E. 



The Fringillince cpmprise the Bullfinches, the Rose-Finches, the 

 Crossbills, the true Finches, the Sparrows, and the Mountain- 

 Finches. They have a bill of medium size, the upper mandible not- 

 being produced behind the front line of the bony orbit, and the 

 cutting-edges of the two mandibles are everywhere in contact. 



The Fringillince have one moult a year only, but the wearing 

 away of the margins of the feathers in parts of the plumage in 

 the spring causes many of them to have a summer plumage, which 

 in some cases is very different to the winter dress. The young 

 birds resemble the adult females and probably retain this dress 

 till the second autumn. 



The Fringillince are more or less gregarious or sociable, live 

 both on seeds and insects, and are frequently good songsters. 



1 have made the division of the Fringillince into genera to depend 

 in great measure on types of colour as well as structure *. 



Key to the Genera. 



a. Rump white ; quills and tail uniform 



black Pyrrhtjla, p. 204. 



b. Inner webs of tertiaries white Pyrrhoplectks, p. 207. 



c. Sexes (except in Erythrospiza) very dis- 



similar ; males red or pink, females 

 brown or greenish ; no white on tail ; 

 tail forked. 



a'. Tips of mandibles crossed Loxia, p. 208. 



b\ Bill of normal shape. 



a'. Bill short and thick ; culmen curved. 



a'" . Tail conspicuously short, the tip 



of the wings reaching- considerably 



beyond middle of tail. 



a 4 . Nostrils exposed ; male scarlet, 



female green IDematospiza, p. 209. 



b 4 . Nostrils densely plumed ; sexes 



nearly similar Erythrospiza, p. 221. 



b'". Tail of moderate length ; tip of 

 wing not reaching byond middle 

 of tail. 



* I cannot determine the following Finches: — 



Fringilla pyrrhoptera, Less, in Belang. Voy. p. 271 (1834). 



Propasser murrayi, Blytb, J. A. S. B. xxxii, p. 458 (1863). 



Ltnota pygm^a, Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xxxvii, pt. ii, p. 62 (1868). 



All of which were described from specimens procured in India, but too 

 insufficiently to be recognizable. 



