228 



769. Acanthis fringillirostris. The Eastern Linnet. 



Linota fringillirostris, Bonap. fy Schleg. Monog. Lox. p. 45, pi. 49 



(1850). 

 Linaria canna"bina (Linn.), Hume, S. F. vii, p. 122 ; Butler, S. F. 



vii, p. 184 ; Hume, Cat. no. 751 ter ; Biddulph, Ibis, 1881, p. 86; 



Scully, Ibis, 1881, p. 579 ; Biddulph, Ibis, 1882, p. 285. 

 Acanthis fringillirostris (Bp. fy Schleg^, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xii, 



p. 244. 



Fig. 63. Head of A. fringillirostris. 



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

 nape, and hind neck are ashy brown, with dark brown streaks, the 

 centres of the feathers of the forehead and front part of crown 

 being red, but entirely concealed ; back, rump, scapulars, and wing- 

 coverts dark brown, with broad chestnut-brown margins to all the 

 feathers ; upper tail-coverts black, margined with white : tail-feathers 

 black, the inner webs broadly, the outer more narrowly, margined 

 with pure white ; primaries black, margined and tipped with white ; 

 secondaries dark brown, edged with reddish brown, which colour 

 occupies nearly the whole of the tertiaries ; a broad band above and 

 below the eye fulvous ; sides of the head pale brown ; chin and 

 throat fulvous, the middle portions streaked with dark brown ; 

 breast dull red, the feathers with very broad fulvous margins which 

 nearly conceal the red ; sides of the breast and of the body fulvous, 

 streaked with brown ; abdomen and under tail-coverts whitish 

 suffused with fulvous. 



In spring and summer the margins of the feathers of the forehead 

 and front part of crown are worn down and the red centres become 

 very evident, causing those parts to have a general red appearance ; 

 the hinder crown, nape, and hind neck become more uniformly 

 brown ; the breast becomes a deep rosy pink, with very narrow 

 whitish margins ; a tinge of red is frequently observable on the 

 rump. 



Female. Resembles the male, but has no red whatever on the fore- 

 head, front part of crown, or breast, these parts being streaked with 

 brown like the other parts of the plumage. 



The young bird appears to resemble the adult female closely. 



The colours of the bill &c. of this race have not been recorded ; 

 in the Common Linnet the bill is horn-colour, the under mandible 

 brown at base, legs pale reddish brown, iris brown. 



Length 5-5 to 6 ; tail 2'4 ; wing 3-2 ; tarsus '65 ; bill from 

 gape '45. 



This race of Linnet differs from A. cannabina in being larger, and, 

 as regards the males, in the colour of the forehead and breast in 



