THE RED BULLFINCHES. 55 



I. THE SCARLET EULLFINCH. CARPODACUS ERYTHRINUS. 



Loxiaerythrina, Pall., N. Coram. Acad. Sci., St. Petersb., xiv., p. 

 587, pi. 23, fig. 1. (1770). 



Carpodacus erythrinus, Dresser, B. Eur.,iv.,p. 75, pi. 195 (187 1) ; 

 B. O. U. List Br. B., p. 55 (1883); Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. 

 Mus., xii., p. 391 (1888). 



Pyrrhala erythrina, Newt. ed. Yarr., ii., p. 189 (1877); Saun- 

 ders, Man., p. 189 (1889) ; Lilford, Col. Fig. Br. B., pt. xiv. 

 (1890). 



Adult Male. — Dark brown, washed with rosy or pale crimson; 

 lower back and rump dull rosy ; crown of head dull crimson, 

 this colour overspreading the nape and hind-neck; cheeks, 

 throat, and breast bright crimson, paler on the latter ; centre 

 of breast and abdomen white, slightly washed with crimson ; 

 bill greyish horn-colour, the ridge more dusky ; feet and toes 

 brown ; iris hazel. Total length, 5-5 inches ; culmen, 0*45 ; 

 wing, 3-2 ; tail, 2*25; tarsus, 075. 



Adult Female. — Above olive-brown, with dusky centres to the 

 feathers ; rump brown like the back, with no crimson ; wing- 

 coverts tipped with yellowish white, forming a double wing-bar; 

 throat dull white, streaked with brown ; fore-neck and breast, 

 ochreous buff, streaked with dusky ; abdomen white. Total 

 length, 5*2 inches; wing, 3-0. 



Young Male. — Similar to the female, but not so distinctly 

 striped on the throat and breast; wing-bars yellow and very 

 distinct. 



Range in Great Britain. — An accidental straggler, having oc- 

 curred twice : near Brighton in September, and near Hamp- 

 stead in October. As the species is one which is extending its 

 range in Western Europe, these are not likely to have been 

 individuals escaped from confinement. 



Range outside the British Islands. — Breeds from Eastern Prus- 

 sia eastwards through Northern Russia and Southern Siberia to 

 the Pacific, as well as from Asia Minor eastwards to Central 

 Asia. It winters in India and the countries to the south of its 



