330 BUCANETES 



BUCANETES, Cab., 1850. 



482. PERSIAN DESERT BULLFINCH. 



BUCANETES OBSOLETUS. 



Bucanetes obsoletus (Licht.), in Eversm. Keise, Anhang. p. 132 (1823) ; 

 (Gould), B. of As. v. pi. 29 ; Dresser, ix. p. 193, pi. 675 ; (Sharpe), 

 Cat. B. Br. Mus. xii. p. 282. 



TimochuJc, Turki. 



<? ad. (Transcaspia). Upper parts pale sandy brown, rump paler, upper 

 tail-coverts darker and tinged with rufous ; under parts paler, the abdomen 

 nearly white ; lores, a narrow space at the base of the bill, and a frontal 

 line black ; quills black, margined with white, the secondaries and wing- 

 coverts broadly margined with bright rose ; rectrices black, the middle 

 ones broadly, and the rest narrowly margined with white ; bill black ; 

 legs fleshy brown ; iris brown. Culmen 0'5, wing 3'5, tail 2*45, tarsus 0'7 

 inch. In the winter the plumage is greyer, the quills and tail margined 

 with buffy white, and the bill yellowish. The female is paler in colora- 

 tion, and has the wings more faintly marked with rose-red, and the beak 

 dark horn, not black. 



Hob. Syria, Transcaspia, Persia, Afghanistan, Turkestan, 

 east to the northern bend of the Hoang-ho river in Chinese 

 Mongolia. 



Appears to be resident throughout its range and frequents 

 plains or low hills, clayey, sandy, or stony localities scantily 

 covered with grass or low bushes, never far from water, and is 

 also to be met with in gardens, on the banks of brooks, and 

 tamarisk patches in the desert. It feeds exclusively on small 

 seeds, and its song, which may be heard from the middle of 

 February to the end of May, is sweet and melodious. Its call- 

 note resembles the syllables fink, fink, or pink, pink, in tone 

 rather faint and soft. 



It breeds twice in the season, in May and July, and its nest, 

 which is placed on a bush or tree, is constructed of twigs and 

 fibres, lined with fine vegetable fibres, horsehair, plant-cotton, 

 or wool, and is sometimes loosely, at others neatly constructed. 

 The eggs, 4 to 6 in number, are pale bluish grey, spotted and 

 streaked, chiefly round the larger end, with fine purplish brown, 

 and measure about 0770 by 0'575. 



