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



of the tail ; first and second primaries equal in length, being 

 the longest ; in general form the bird is short and stout. 



" (J ad. in autumn dress. Crown, back, and shoulders grey- 

 ish sandy brown, with lighter edges and dark central lines ; 

 hind neck and cheeks similar, but without dark lines ; su- 

 perciliary region, throat, breast, and flanks carmine, with grey 

 edges to the feathei's ; abdomen and under tail-coverts white, 

 with a carmine tinge ; quills blackish brown, with light edges, 

 which latter are grey on the lesser wing-coverts, and on the 

 larger coverts are very broad, white, tinged with carmine to- 

 wards the tips ; on the median coverts the margins are white, 

 but the carmine is less developed ; hence on the wing are two 

 white patches divided by carmine ; the primaries have whitish 

 margins, which in a few are washed with carmine. 



"The tail-feathers are blackish brown, with grey edges. 

 The upper mandible is yellowish brown, the lower mandible 

 light yellow ; legs are light brown ; iris dark brown. 



"In spring all the rose-coloured feathers have become bright 

 blood-red, and the whitish has changed to a snowy white 

 colour, except the stomach and the under tail-feathers, which 

 are protected from the sun. The rose-colour is brightest on 

 the wings, paler on the throat, breast, superciliary region, 

 flanks, and rump, where only the edges of the feathers are of 

 that colour. The dark lines on the crown- and back-feathers 

 change in spring into a darker colour ; and the edges of the 

 grey feathers are lost by that time. 



" The female is in spring and autumn of the same colour 

 as the male, and diff'ers from it only by not having the rose 

 colour on the flanks, the breast, and the median-coverts j also 

 the white spots on the wings are smaller. 



" The young male in the first autumnal plumage is like an 

 old female; but it has no white edges on the large wing- 

 coverts, which are of a brownish-red colour ; on the median 

 coverts are only very narrow white edges, which do not form 

 a white spot when the wing is closed. 



" The young female bird in first autumnal plumage has 

 scarcely any red colour at all, it being replaced by light grey, 

 which is faintly shaded with red on the breast. 



