SCARLET GROSBEAK. 175 



appearing there almost every August or September, and has 

 even been recorded from Spain. Italy has long been known 

 to be within the range of its autumnal visits, and it appears 

 to have reached Malta. In Germany it is said to have been 

 once found breeding in the Queiss valley among the Silesian 

 mountains. Further to the northward it has been met with 

 on Gottland, and even, it is said, in East Finmark, where it 

 is reported to have bred, but possibly further information on 

 this point is required. However in Finland it is now recog- 

 nized as an annual summer-visitant so high as Kuopio, 

 where a pair or two may be observed every year, and further 

 to the southward it seems to breed regularly, as at Helsing- 

 fors, near which town Mr. Dresser procured its nest and eggs, 

 July 3rd 1858. 



Passing over the Russian Empire, throughout which it 

 seems to be found from Poland to Kamchatka, as well as 

 the various parts of Central Asia that are suited to its 

 habits, the Scarlet Grosbeak occurs in Persia, and is a 

 regular visitant from October to April to the greater portion 

 of India, extending to Assam and Arracan. In many 

 localities it appears numerously, inhabiting alike gardens, 

 groves and jungles, but in the extreme south it chiefly fre- 

 quents bamboo-thickets. At the same season it also occurs in 

 China and especially abounds there during the spring-passage. 



In the fully-coloured cock the bill is yellowish-brown, 

 lightest on the lower mandible : the irides are brown : the 

 top of the head glossy carmine-red ; lores and ear-coverts 

 reddish-brown ; nape, back and upper wing-coverts rich 

 brown-lake, the feathers being reddish-brown at the base 

 narrowly fringed with light rufous-brown; the other wing- 

 coverts reddish-brown, broadly tipped and edged with light red 

 so as to form two bars of that colour across the wing ; wing- 

 quills dusky brown edged outwardly with light red, which passes 

 into rufous on the primaries ; rump and upper tail-coverts 

 glossy carmine-red tinged with brown ; tail-quills dusky 

 brown narrowly edged with light-red ; chin and throat glossy 

 rose-red, deepening into carmine towards the tip of each 

 feather, and passing on the breast into a paler and duller 



VOL. II. A A 



