PYRRHOPLECTES. 315 



without striations. It may possibly be this species, but there is no mention of 

 the pectoral band, the slaty grey sides of the breast, and the dark streak at the 

 base of the upper mandible. 



839. SerinUS pusillus (Pall.), Brandt, Bull. Sci. Acad. St. 

 Petersb. i. p. 366 ; Bp. Consp. i. p. 524. Passer pusillus, Pall., Zoogr. Rosso- 

 Asiat. ii. p. 28, No. 43. Metoponia pusilla, Bp. Notes, Orn. Coll. Delattre, 

 p. 17 ; Jerd., B. Ind. ii. p. 410; Hume, Nests and Eggs, Ind. B. p. 473 ; 

 Blanf., East. Pers. ii. p. 250; Hume, Str. F. 1879, P- IQ 8; C. Swinhoe, 

 Ibis, 1882, p. 115; Biddulph, t. c. p. 284 ; Murray, Zool. of Beloch. and 

 S. Afghanistan. Fringilla aurifrons. Horsf., J. A. S. B. xv. p. 38. Serinus 

 aurifrons, Blyth, Cat. Mus. A. Soc. No. 68 1. The GOLD-HEADED FINCH. 



Forehead crimson ; crown of head dusky blackish, also the feathers round 

 the eye, the sides of the face, occiput, cheeks, throat, and foreneck ; nape and 

 hind neck blackish, the feathers more narrowly streaked with this colour and 

 golden yellow ; back more broadly streaked with the same ; rump yellow, the 

 feathers streaked mesially with blackish ; lesser wing coverts black, the lesser 

 coverts margined with yellow and the median and greater series edged and 

 tipped with whitish with a slight yellow tinge ; primary coverts blackish 

 edged with ashy yellowish; quills dusky brown; the primaries edged with 

 golden yellow ; the secondaries margined with the same near the base and 

 fringed near the tip with whitish ashy ; upper tail coverts black, broadly edged 

 with ashy white ; tail blackish, edged with whitish and tinged with golden 

 yellow near the base ; under tail coverts golden yellow, also the under wing 

 coverts and axillaries. Bill dull black ; base of lower mandible slightly tinged 

 with brown. 



Length. 4*8 inches; wing 2-95 ; tail 2'OS; tarsus O'6; culmen 0*3. 

 The female is less bright in colour and rather smaller. 



Hab. From the Caucasus and Northern Persia to Turkistan, wintering in 

 Asia Minor and in the N.-W. Himalayas. Common in Southern Afghanistan, 

 also in Cashmere, and at Simla, Kotegurh, Murree, and Mussoorie. In the 

 Hume collection there are specimens from Kashgar, Ladak, and Gilgit ; also 

 from Murdan and Kotekhale. 



This species is generally found in small flocks and affects cereal crops and 

 grasses which are in seed ; often, however, they may be seen solitary or in 

 pairs. 



Gen. Pyrrhoplectes. Hodgs. 



Bill bulged ; tip of upper mandible slightly overhanging ; lower mandible 

 very thick ; wings moderate, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th primaries subequal and longest ; 

 tail even or very slightly divaricate. 

 VOL. ii. 41 *" 



