MONTIFRINGILLA. 305 



forming an indistinct collar commencing behind the eye ; forehead white, 

 intersected by a black median streak ; lores black, extending in a streak 

 above the eyes and followed by a white eyebrow ; eyelids black above, white 

 below like the ear coverts and cheeks, which have a slight tinge of rufous, like 

 the sides of the neck ; throat and under surface of body white ; chin black ; 

 sides of breast, body and flanks fawn brown ; thighs and under tail coverts 

 white ; under wing coverts and axillaries white ; quills below dusky, but white 

 along the inner edge. (Sharpe.) 



Length. 5*7 inches ; wing 3-8 ; tail 2*25 ; culmen 0*5 ; tarsus 0*65. 

 Hab. Sikkim and Thibet. Noted from near Darjeeling. 



825. Montifringilla sordida, Stoi. J. A. S. B. xxxvii. p. 63 ; 



Hume, Str. F. 1873, p. 41 ; Scully, Ibis, 1881, p. 597; Sharps, Cat. B. Br. 

 Mus. xii. p. 266. Propasser Murrayi, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xxxii. p. 458 ; Hume, 

 Sir. F. 1876, p. 504. Fringillauda nemoricola (nee Hodgs.), Horsf. and Moore, 

 Cat. B. E. I. Co. Mus. ii. p. 492 ; Jerd., B. Ind. ii. p. 414. Carpodacus 

 Murrayi, Gray, Handl. B. ii. p. 85. The HIMALAYAN LARK-FINCH. 



Above brown, the feathers centred with darker brown, those of the mantle 

 and back broadly edged with white ; lower back and rump ashy grey ; lesser 

 wing coverts sandy brown, centred with blackish ; median series the same, 

 and edged with yellowish buff ; greater coverts dusky blackish, narrowly 

 tipped with yellowish white, and edged externally with light brown ; bastard 

 wing blackish, edged with light brown ; primary coverts blackish, with ashy 

 grey bases and conspicuous white edges on the outer web ; quills blackish, 

 edged with sandy brown, the inner secondaries with ochreous buff, and con- 

 spicuously blackish at the base of the outer web, forming a similar pattern to 

 the inner greater coverts ; upper tail coverts blackish, broadly tipped with 

 white ; tail feathers dark brown, edged with sandy buff ; crown of the head, 

 like the back, sandy brown and mottled with black centres; hind neck 

 uniform ashy brown : lores ashy ; eyelids and supercilium pale sandy buff ; 

 ear coverts and cheeks pale ashy brown, slightly streaked with dusky centres ; 

 throat and under surface of the body pale ashy brown, the feathers edged with 

 greyish white on the lower breast and sides of the body ; breast rather more 

 ashy ; abdomen whitish ; thighs pale ashy ; under tail coverts white mottled 

 with dusky blackish centres ; upper mandible brown ; lower brownish fleshy ; 

 legs, feet and claws blackish brown; iris cinnabar-red. (Sharpe.) 



Length. 6 inches ; wing 3*85 ; tail 2*2 ; tarsus O'75 ; culmen O'5. 



Hab. N.-W. Himalayas, as far as Kumaon; also Afghanistan. Recorded 

 from Kashgar, Gilgit, Chamba, the Sutlej Valley, and Simla. Nothing is 

 known of its habits. 



826. Montifringilla nemoricola, Hodgs., As. Res. xix. p. 158 ; 



id. Icon. ined. in Br. Mus. Passer es, pi. 288 ; Bp. Consp. i. p. 538 ; Hume, Str. 



