LEUCOSTICTE 305 



(J ad. (Alaska). Differs from L. Irunneinucha in being darker, both 

 above and below ; crown black, the sides of the hind-crown, of the head from 

 the middle of the eye, and the entire nape and hind-neck pearl-grey ; lores 

 and throat blackish ; breast blackish chocolate, very slightly marked with 

 red on the lower portion ; bill blackish horn, slightly yellowish at the 

 base ; legs black ; iris nut-brown. Culmen 0'58, wing 4'4, tail 3'2, 

 tarsus 0'97 inch. Sexes alike. In the winter the grey on the head and 

 neck is duller, and the bill is yellowish with a dark tip. The nestling is 

 dull reddish brown, greyer on the rump and abdomen, darker, on the head ; 

 secondaries and wing-coverts broadly margined with fulvous ; no red in 

 the plumage. 



Hob. Aleutian, Prybelov, and Commander Islands; Alaska; 

 is said to winter in South-eastern Siberia. 



" It affects the bold ragged cliffs along the sea-shore, and is 

 constantly in motion either on the wing, flying in sweeping, 

 long curves, sometimes near the earth, to mount 30 or 40 feet 

 at a single effort, alighting on some projecting ledge of a bluff 

 to search for food, and away again to alight for a moment on a 

 weed-stalk." It is very tame and confiding when near the 

 villages, but elsewhere more shy. It has no song but utters a 

 low, mellow chirp ; its food consists chiefly of seeds, but also of 

 insects and their larvae. It breeds in May, constructing a neat 

 nest of grass lined with finer grass and feathers, which it places 

 in a chink or crevice of the cliffs, and deposits 3 to 6 pure 

 white eggs, with a rosy tinge when fresh, which measure about 

 97 by 0-67. 



448. JAPANESE GROUND-LINNET. 

 LEUCOSTICTE BRUNNEINUCHA. 



Leucosticte brunneinucha, (Brandt), Bull. Ac. Sc. St. Petersb. x. p. 252 

 (1842) ; (Gould) B. of Asia. v. pi. 4 ; David and Oust. Ois. Chine, 

 p. 334, pi. 89 ; (Sharpe), Cat. B. Br. Mus. xii. p. 278 ; Tacz. F. 0. 

 Sib. 0. p. 653 ; (Seebohm), B. Jap. Emp. p. 128 ; Kidgw. p. 395. 



< ad. (Japan). Upper parts dark brown, with sandy brown margins ; 

 crown dark grey, marked with hoary grey ; occiput, nape, hind-neck, and 

 sides of neck tawny buff, sometimes dull creamy white ; rump and upper 

 tail-coverts washed and^ tipped with rosy red ; wings and tail blackish 

 brown, with whitish margins the former washed with rosy red ; under 

 parts blackish brown, margined with greyish white, and washed with 

 rosy red, the chin, throat, and neck dusky greyish brown ; under tail- 

 coverts white, with dusky centres and washed with rosy red ; bill and legs 

 blackish ; iris dark brown. Culmen 0'46, wing 4'15, tail 2'85, tarsus 0'8 

 inch. Sexes alike. In winter the plumage is more sandy coloured, and 

 the bill yellow, with a dark tip. 



X 



