244 Mr. II. E. Dresser's Notes on 



I will not transcribe the detailed description given by Se- 

 vertzoflP, as it is sufficient to point out that the differences 

 noticed by him are, that instead of greyish margins and tips 

 to the feathers on the back^ shoulders, wings, tail, and under- 

 parts, the Turkestan bird has these tips and margins reddish 

 yellow both in the immature and adult plumage ; but in the 

 former dress the yellow colour is duller and tinged with 

 brown^ especially on the back. In the winter the extreme 

 terminal portion of these margins is white, which is worn off 

 in the spring and is never at any season sufficiently developed 

 to cover and hide the yellow. He describes both the adult 

 male and female as having a red frontal patch, and the young 

 as lacking this and having the head dark brown, and not 

 black, and the throat lighter. He suggests that Pallas's birds 

 may have been preserved in spirits. To this I may add that I 

 possess specimens from Asia Minor and the Caucasus, as well 

 as from Yarkand, and find that they agree closely inter se, all 

 having the margins of the feathers yellowish, and not white. 



78. Pyrrhula europ^a, Vieill. 

 Pyrrhula vulgaris, Severtzoff, p. 64. 

 Horizontal range. Rare diu'ing winter in district I. 

 Vertical range. Found during winter in district 3. 



79. Pyrrhula nepalensis (an sp. ?), Severtzoff, pp. 64, 117. 

 Range the same as that of P. vulgaris. 



Respecting this bird Severtzoff writes (p. 117) as follows : — 

 " My young male obtained in the winter of 1865, near the 

 mountains of Vernoe, was in error referred to Pyrrhula nepa- 

 lensis, Gould (B. of Asia). An adult female, closely resem- 

 bling European specimens, was killed at the same place. The 

 young male is a trifle smaller than this female, has the abdo- 

 men ashy grey, and no shade of red on the back ; and hence 

 it was referred to P. nepalensis. It has, however, the head, 

 wings, and tail black, with a metallic lustre, and there is a 

 white bar across the wing, whereas P. nepalensis has the head 

 and back similar in colour.^' 



I have not had an opportunity of examining a specimen 

 of this Bullfinch from Turkestan; but it appears to me 



