226 



of the head and neck and the breast ashy brown ; abdomen and 

 under tail-coverts white ; sides of the body fulvous ashy ; under 

 wing-coverts and axillaries whitish. 



Female. Yery similar to the male, but having the crimson on the 

 head paler and the yellow on the greater wing-coverts less extensive. 



Bill carneous with a dusky tip ; legs pale brow n ; iris brown 

 (Jerdon). 



Length about 5'5 : tail 2-1; wing 3-2; tarsus '55; bill from 

 gape *6. 



This species differs from the English Goldfinch, C. elegans, 

 chiefly in having no black on the head. Where the two species meet 

 they appear to interbreed, and every intermediate form between 

 the two may be found, as is well shown in the fine mounted series 

 of these birds in the Central Hall of the British Museum of 

 Natural History. 



Distribution. The Himalayas from the Hazara country and Gil- 

 git to Kumaun, from 5000 to 9000 or 10,000 feet according to 

 season. This species extends to Afghanistan on the west and 

 through Central Asia to Siberia on the north. 



Habits, fyc. This Goldfinch, like its European ally, affects open 

 country, feeding chiefly on the seeds of the thistle. Nothing is 

 known regarding its nidification on the Himalayas. 



Genus CALLACANTHIS, Reichenb., 1850. 



The genus Callacanthis contains one species which appears to 

 have considerable affinities for Carduelis. Both sexes are charac- 

 terized by a large amount of white on the wings and tail ; the male 

 is rosy red, and the female brown, but they both preserve the same 

 pattern of colour. The bill is large and thick, but straight and 

 pointed, and the wings are very long. 



This Einch probably resembles the Goldfinch in its habits. 



768. Callacanthis bur toni. The Eed-browed Finch. 



Carduelis burtoni, Gould, P. Z. S. 1837, p. 90. 



Fringilla burtoni (Old.), Blyth, Cat. p. 337. 



Callacanthis burtoni (Gld.), Jerd. B. I. ii, p. 407; Stoliczka, J. A. 



S. B. xxxvii, pt ii, p. 61 j Hume, N.. $ E. p. 471 ; Brooks, 8. F. 



iii, p. 255 ; Hume, Cat. no. 748 ; Sharps, Cat. B. M. xii, p. 232 ; 



Oates in Hume's N. \ E. 2nd ed. ii, p. 15.4. 



Coloration. Male. Forehead, lores, and a large ring round the 

 eye crimson ; crown and nape black ; cheeks and ear-coverts black 

 with pale shafts ; upper plumage and scapulars brown suffused with 

 rose-colour ; lesser and median wing-coverts black, margined 

 with red ; the remaining wing-coverts and winglet black, tipped 

 with white, the tips of the greater coverts tinged with rosy ; quills 

 black, tipped with white ; tail black, the middle pair of feathers 

 merely tipped with white, the others with an increasing amount of 

 white, the outermost feather having nearly the whole inner we b 



