ERYTHROSPIZA. 221 



Habits, fyc. Stoliczka seems to have found the nest of this Eose- 

 Finch in Western Tibet in July, but its authenticity is very 

 doubtful. 



0. stoliczkce, Hume, from Tarkand, is a much smaller species, 

 with the plumage pale ashy and the red parts of the head without 

 the conspicuous white spangles which characterize C. albicilla. 

 The female is plain unstreaked ashy throughout. 



Genus ERYTHROSPIZA, Bonap., 1831. 



The genus Erythrospiza contains the palest forms of the Hose- 

 Finches, birds of the desert. In this genus the general colour of 

 the males is brown or grey suffused with pale pink. The bill is 

 short but extremely tumid, the lower mandible being as much 

 curved a^ the upper. The wings are very long and reach much 

 beyond the middle of the tail. The sexes do not differ much in 

 colour. 



Key to the Species. 



a. In fresh plumage, upper parts bluish grey ; 



greatest depth of closed bill '4 E. (jithayinea, p. 221 . 



b. In fresh plumage, upper parts sandy brown; 



greatest depth of closed bill '3 E. monyolica, p. 222. 



763. Erythrospiza githaginea. The Desert-Finch. 



Pyrrlmla githaginea, Temm. PI. Col iii, pi. 400 (182G). 



Jiucauetes githaginea (Temm.), Hume, S. F. i, p. 210, vii, pp. 64, 



4v>4 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 273. 

 Erythrospiza githaginea (Temm?), Hume, Cat. no. 732 bis ; Sharpe, 



Cat. B. M. xii, p. 284. 



Coloration. Male. After the autumn moult the forehead, crown, 

 sides of the head, and entire lower plumage are bluish grey, suffused 

 with rosy on the lower parts ; upper plumage and sides of the neck 

 greyish brown, with a faint tinge of rosy on the rump ; wings and 



Fig. 59. Head of E. yithayinca. 



tail brown, edged with vinous grey, the quills subterminally 

 blacfc. 



The above plumage is retained by the male for only a short time 

 after the moult, and at this period the whole plumage has a decided 



