220 BIRDS OF TUNISIA 



Subfamily LOXIINil;. 



ERYTHROSPIZA GITHAGINEA (Lichtenstein). 



DESEET BULLFINCH. 



Fringilla githaginea, Lkht. Vers. DoiM. p. 24 (1823). 



Erythrospiza githaginea, Bp. Faun. Ital. Ucc. PL 35, tig. 3 (1832-41) ; 



Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Miis. xii, p. 284 ; Kocnig, J. f. 0. 1888, p. 249 ; 



id. J. f. 0. 1893, p. 68 ; Whitaker, Ibis, 1894, p. 91 ; Erlanger, J.f. 0. 



1899, p. 462. 

 Bucanetes githagineus, Loche, Expl. Sci. Alg. Ois. i, p. 164 (1867). 



Description. — Adult male, spring, from Djebel Semama, Central Tunisia. 



General colour above and below delicate pale rose, tinged with light 

 greyish-brown on the crown, nape and back, the rose tint being more pro- 

 nounced on the forehead, rump, upper tail-coverts and on the underparts 

 generally ; quills and tail-feathers brown, margined with pale rose. 



Iris very dark hazel ; bill orange ; feet yellowish-flesh colour. 



Total length 5 inches, wing 3-40, culmen -40, tarsus -70. 



Adult female, spring, from Djebel Semama, Central Tunisia. 



Eesembles the male, but rather duller in colour. 



Soft parts and measurements almost the same as in the male. 



This pretty little Desert Bullfinch, although nowhere particularly 

 plentiful in the Regency, is a resident species, and seems to be 

 generally distributed throughout the more hilly country south of the 

 Atlas Mountains, where arid mountains and stony plains are mostly to 

 be met with. I have found the species not uncommon at the foot 

 of the Djebel Semama near Kasrin, and on the slopes of the Djebel 

 Tfel and the Djebel Stab near Gafsa, as also on all the stony plains 

 lying to the south-west of that town, notably those near Metlaoui 

 and Tozer. My collection also contains specimens from districts 

 south of the Chott Djerid. 



Erythrospiza githaginea occurs in Algeria in the same description 

 of country as it affects in Tunisia. The species probably also occurs 

 in some parts of Marocco and Tripoli, but I have seen no examples of 

 it from those countries. 



Although strictly a desert or semi-desert species, E. githaginea has 

 not unfrequently been found far from its proper habitat, examples 

 having been obtained from time to time in South Spain, Malta, 

 Sicily and Continental Italy, and occasionally from countries still 



