200 FRINGILLTDjE. 



743. Pycnorhamphus carneipes. The White-ivinged Grosbeak. 



Coccothraustes carnipes, Hodgs. As. Res. xix, p. 151 (1836); 



Blyth, Cat. p. 125. 

 Mycerobas carnipes (Hodgs.), Horsf. $ M. Cat. ii, p. 462 ; Jerd. 



'B. I. ii, p. 387 ; Wardlaw Ramsay, Ibis, 1879, p. 448, 1880, p. 66 ; 



Biddulph, Ibis, 1881, p. 81 ; Scully, Ibis, 1831, p. 577. 

 Pycnorhamphus carneipes (Hodgs.), Hume, Cat. no. 728 ; Sharpe, Cat. 



B. M. xii, p. 47. 



Coloration. Male. The whole head, neck, back, scapulars, wings, 

 chin, throat, breast, upper abdomen, upper tail-coverts, and tail 

 black with ashy margins ; the upper tail-coverts margined with 

 greenish yellow ; the scapulars, innermost greater coverts, and 

 tertiaries tipped with greenish yellow on the outer web ; all but 

 the first primary with a white patch at base ; the primaries and 

 secondaries narrowly margined with white on the outer web near 

 the tip ; rump, lower abdomen, sides of body, and under tail- coverts 

 greenish yellow ; thighs ashy brown ; under wing-coverts and 

 axillaries pale ashy. 



Female. Very similar to the male in general appearance. The 

 dark parts of the plumage are ashy brown, not black, and the 

 margins of the feathers have a greenish tinge ; the cheeks and the 

 sides of the head are streaked with whitish ; the lower abdomen, 

 sides of the body, and under tail-coverts are ashy yellow ; the breast 

 is more or less streaked with white, but is occasionally quite plain. 



Upper mandible brownish, the lower one whitish horn-colour ; 

 legs pale fleshy brown ; iris hair-brown ( Wardlaw Ramsay}. The 

 bill does not appear to undergo any seasonal change of colour. 



Length 8 to 9 ; tail 3-5 to 4 ; wing 4-3 to 4-8 ; tarsus I ; bill 

 from gape '8 to 1. The size of this species varies extremely but not 

 according to locality, probably according to age. 



Distribution. The Himalayas from Grilgit to Sikhim, generally 

 above 8000 feet, but occasionally descending to 5000 feet. This 

 species extends to Afghanistan on the west, and to parts of Central 

 Asia on the north. 



Genus MYCEROBAS, Cabanis, 1847. 



In the genus Mycerobas the bill is of very great size, the height 

 at the nostrils being about equal to the length of the bill ; the 

 cutting-edge of the upper mandible, as in Pycnorhamphus, is 

 provided with a large tooth near the gape, and the nostrils are 

 covered by hairs ; the tail is comparatively short and decidedly 

 forked ; and the wing-quills have ordinary rounded tips. The sexes 

 differ in colour. 



The only member of this genus inhabits the Himalayas, and has 

 also occasionally been found in Mauipur. Very little is known of 

 its habits. 



