214 FKINGILLIDJE. 



p. 458 ; Jerd. B. I. ii, pp. 403, 874 ; Hume, Cat. no 744 ; G. F. L. 



Marshall, Ibis, 1881, p. 84 ; Hume, S. F. ix,p. 349, note. 

 Carpodacus dubius, Prjev. in Rowley's Orn. Misc. ii, p. 301, pi. liv, v 



(1877). 

 Propasser blythi, Biddulph, Ibis, 1882, p. 283, pi. ix. 



Coloration. Male. Lores and front part of face crimson ; 

 forehead, snpercilimn, cheeks, ear-coverts, chin, and throat pale 

 shining pink, with white shaft-streaks ; the end of the supercilium 

 white ; a broad band behind the eye nearly black ; sides of neck 

 plain brown ; crown, nape, back, and scapulars brown, broadly 

 streaked with black ; rump rosy pink ; upper tail-coverts black, 

 margined with rosy pink ; lesser wing-coverts black, edged with 

 rosy ; median coverts black, broadly tipped with pink ; greater 

 coverts black, narrowly margined with dull pink, and tipped on the 

 outer web with pale buff ; quills, primary-coverts, and tail blackish, 

 margined with dull rosy, the tertiaries with pale buff; lower 

 plumage from the throat downwards uniform rosy pink ; under 

 tail-coverts black, edged with rosy ; axillaries and under wing- 

 coverts whitish. 



Female. Upper plumage dark brown, streaked with black ; the 

 feathers of the rump and upper tail-coverts edged with golden 

 yellow ; a broad supercilium and the feathers round the upper 

 mandible buff, more or less streaked and mottled with black ; a 

 broad band behind the eye black ; cheeks and ear-coverts pale 

 rufous, streaked with black ; chin, throat, breast, and sides of the 

 body rufous, streaked with black ; abdomen huffy white ; under 

 tail-coverts black, margined with pale buffy white ; under wing- 

 coverts and axillaries whitish. 



Length about 6-5 ; tail 3-1 : wing 3*4 : tarsus -9 ; bill from 

 gape "6. 



Distribution. Sikhim ; Nepal ; Gilgit ; extending to Tibet, 

 Alachan, and Kansu. This species has been recorded at 12,000 feet 

 and upwards both by Blanford and Mandelli. 



Habits, Sfc. This bird was observed by Blanford on rhododendron 

 bushes, and sometimes on grassy hill-sides. Beavan observed it in 

 flocks. Mandelli obtained the nest at Dolaka in Nepal in August. 

 It was built in a thorny bush, was cup-shaped, and composed of 

 fine grass coated exteriorly with brown moss, and was lined with 

 white fur. The eggs, three in number, are dull greenish blue, 

 sparingly marked with brownish grey, and measure about - 87 

 by -65. * 



I have not been able to examine a specimen of P. blythi from 

 Gilgit, but, judging from the description, this race of P. thura is 

 identical with P. dubius, which is characterized by a pale brown 

 upper plumage, and differs from P. thura in no other respect. 

 There are two specimens of this pale race in the British Museum, 

 marked as having been received from the N.W. Himalayas, but 

 the labels are unsatisfactory and the locality doubtful. P. thura 

 may be looked upon as a dark race from Sikhim and Nepal, and 

 P. dubius (or P. blythi) as a pale race from the drier regions of 



