ACAXTHIS. METOPONIA. 155 



alas ! I had io leave ere the eggs were laid. It makes rather a 

 large nest of moss, lined with roots and .stalks of fern, placed on 

 the fork of one of the smaller boughs in a pine in dark forest 

 situations." 



770. Acanthis brevirostris (Gould). The Eastern Twite. 

 Linaria brevirostris (Gould), Hume, Cat. no. 751 bis. 



An egg of this species, found in Native Sikhim on the 7th July, 

 is a regular oval, slightly compressed towards the small end. The 

 ground-colour is a spotless white with a faint bluish tinge, and the 

 egg is mottled and spotted all over, most densely towards the broad 

 end, where the spots have a tendency to form a zone, with reddish- 

 brown and underlying markings of a paler shade. 



The egg measures 0'72 by 0*55. 



771. Metoponia pusilla (Pall.). The Gold-fronted Finch. 



Metoponia pusilla (Pall.), Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 410; Hume, Rough 

 Draft N. E. no. 751. 



Dr. Stoliczka tells us that " the Gold-fronted Pinch comes only 

 in winter to the lesser ranges of the North-west Himalayas. It 

 breeds east of Chini, at elevations of 10,000 feet and above, as 

 likewise in Spiti, Lahul, and Ladakh. I found old nests made of 

 thin twigs, laid out with grass and wool, on shrubs or low trees of 

 Juniperus excelsa" 



Colonel John Biddulph writes from Gilgit : " On July 28th I 

 had a nest brought me which my shikari had been watching several 

 day<. He shot one of the pair of old birds about the nest, which 

 turned out to be the male of M. pusilla. The nest contained three 

 eggs, perfectly fresh (and the number was apparently not complete), 

 in colour a dull stone-white, with small red-brown spots dotted 

 about the larger end. The nest was about 20 feet from the ground, 

 in a cedar-taree(Jtntprtif excelsa), neatly made of grass-fibres, and 

 lined thickly with sheep's wool, and matted on the outside with 

 soft bits of decayed wood so as to look like bark of a tree." 



Major Wturdlaw Eamsay says, writing of Afghanistan : "Plen- 

 tiful in the Hariab district, and remained in flocks until the early 

 part of June, when they commenced to breed. I found a nest on 

 the Peiwar range, which was placed near the extremity of a deodar 

 branch about 4 feet from the ground ? it was composed of dried 

 weeds and strips of bark, and lined with feathers and goat's hair. 

 Only one egg was in the nest, of a delicate bluish white, speckled 

 at the thicker end with minute reddish- brown spots." 



An egg of this species, procured in Gilgit, is a regular oval, 

 slightly pointed towards the lesser end ; the shell is very thin and 

 fine, but lias almost no gloss. The ground-colour is a delicate bluish 

 white, and the markings, which are gathered in a zone round the 



