GYMXORHIS. 



235 



Genus GYMNORHIS, Hodgs., 1844. 

 The genua Qymmrhis contains one Indian species of Finch 

 which is generally termed a Sparrow, but its affinities for the 

 Sparrows are not very great. In this genus the bill is long and 

 slender with the culmeu gently curved throughout, and the chiet 

 characteristic of the plumage is the presence of a yellow patch on 

 the throat in both sexes. 



Fig. 66.— Head of G . flavicollis. 

 This Finch or Sparrow is found in all descriptions of jungle and 

 frequently near houses, and it has much the same habits as the 

 House-Sparrow. 



775. Gymnorhis flavicollis. The Fellow-throated Sparrow. 



Fringilla flavicollis, Frank!. P. Z. S. 1831, p. 120. 



Petrouia flavicollis (Franhl), Blyth, Cat. p. 120 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. 



xii, P-293. . tnri TT 



Gymnoris flavicollis (Frankl), Horsf. $ M. Cat. n, p. 49/ ; Hume, 



N. # E. p. 4G1 ; Ball, S. F. vii, p. 223; Hume, Cat. no. 711; 



Gates in Humes N. fy F. 2nd ed. ii, p. 157. 

 Passer flavicollis (Frdnkl), Jerd. B. I. ii, p. 368 ; Legge, Birds Ceyl. 



p. 605 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 267. 

 The Yelloic-necked Sparrow, Jerd. ; Raji, Jangli-ehuri, Hind. ; Adavi 

 piehike, Konde pichike, Cheruka jnchike, Tel. 



Coloration. Male. The whole upper plumage and scapulars 

 ashy brown ; tail brown, narrowly edged with whity brown ; 

 lesser wing-coverts chestnut; median coverts brown, tipped with 

 white ; greater coverts and tertiaries brown, margined and tipped 

 with pale buff; the other quills dark brown, very narrowly 

 margined with buff ; primary-coverts and winglet black ; chin dull 

 white ; throat yellow ; sides of the head and neck and the breast 

 pale ashy brown ; remainder of lower plumage ashy white, the 

 flanks darker. 



Female. Eesembles the male, but has the yellow throat-spot very 

 pale and the lesser wing-coverts rufous-brown, not chestnut- 

 Iris dark brown ; legs and feet greyish plumbeous ; the male 

 appears to have the bill black in winter, brown in summer ; the 

 female to have it always brown. The colour of the bill of the 

 male is by no means constantly black in winter and brown in 

 summer, but I cannot discover any reasons for the exceptions. 



Length about 6; tail 2-1; wing 3*2 ; tarsus -6; bill from 

 gape '6. 



