Major J. Biddulph utt the Birds ofGilyit. 283 



large number of spccinicus obtained by Dr. (Scully and myself^ 

 this is the only one in this stage of plumage, when it differs 

 so greatly from those obtained at other times of the year, that 

 it might almost pass muster as a different species. Mr. See- 

 bohm^s collection contains several similar specimens from 

 Central Asia. As my collection contains a number of spe- 

 cimens shot within a few days of this one, and whicli, though 

 much brighter than ordinary winter specimens, do not show 

 any thing like such bright markings as this one, I am inclined 

 to think that this plumage is not assumed by adult males 

 till after the second moult, that is, in the third year of their 

 existence. The males of the Propasser and Carpodacus group, 

 as far as is known, all breed in female plumage the first year, 

 and there is no reason why some such delay in assuming full 

 breeding-plumage should not similarly occur in the Erythro- 

 spiza group. The colouring of E. githagmea appears to 

 undergo a somewhat similar change. 



Gould's plate in pt. xxix. of the '^ Birds of Asia' shows a 

 male in the plumage I have described, and a female in winter 

 plumage. The figure in David and Oustalet's ' Oiseaux de 

 la Chine Ms of a specimen in winter plumage. 



166. Propasseu BLYTHi, sp. uov. (Plate IX.) 

 I obtained altogether two males and five females of this 

 species in a secluded valley close to the Indus. The males 

 agree with Blyth^s type of Propasser frontalis in the Cal- 

 cutta Museum. Blyth first described this species in the 

 * Journal of the Asiatic Society^ for 1863; but, in his Ap- 

 pendix to the "^ Birds o£ India,' Jerdon Avrites that Blyth 

 had ceased to regard it as sj)ccifically distinct from P. thura. 

 It is, however, certaiidy distinct, and has a wing averaging 

 from '10 to "25 inch longer, both in the male and female. 

 The whole coloration is fainter and softer, and the general 

 ground-colour of the upper parts is dull earthy brown, un- 

 mixed with rosy, instead of dark rufous brown, as in P. thura, 

 or dark crimson-brown, as in P. rhodopephis , while the bill 

 is finer and less Pyrrhulinc. The female has the underparts 

 and rump tinged Avith pale yellowish chestnut, which in 



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