346 THE BIRDS OF GILGIT. 



on the wings and back being especially lighter ; but they corre- 

 spond fairly well with a specimen in the Indian Museum at 

 Calcutta, obtained by exchange from Mr. Dresser, and labelled 

 "E. sckoeniclus, var. B. Pallas, Lake Baikal/' 



158.— Euspiza luteola, Sparrm. (722). 



A few specimens shot in the end of August and September 

 were all in immature plumage ; no adult males were either 

 procured or observed. 



159.— Euspiza melanocephala, Scop. (721). 



A single specimen, an immature female, was procured by 

 me on the 5th October. 



160.— Mycerobas carnipes, Eodgs. (728). 



Common at all seasons in the pine forests above 8,000 feet, 

 seldom coming lower down even in winter. On one occasion 

 only, in the severe winter of 1877-78, I saw and shot a pair 

 in the main valley at 5,000 feet elevation. 



These birds belong to the western form which has been 

 separated as M. speculigerus, Brandt. They differ from the 

 usual eastern type in being of larger size ; the colour of the 

 abdomen is more vivid, and of a more decided yellow ; the 

 yellowish edgings of the tertiaries and wing-coverts are more 

 conspicuous and much broader, and the bill more full and 

 bulged. They correspond exactly with the figures in Gould's 

 " Birds of Asia," which were taken from specimens from the 

 Altai. But as the late Mr. Mandelli obtained in Sikhim 

 specimens which correspond to the western form, there do 

 not seem to be sufficient grounds for retaining M. speculigerus 

 as a distinct species.* 



The males measure from 8*9 to 9 # 7 inches in length (the 

 average being 9*4), with the wing from 4-55 to 4*8, and the 

 tail from 3*9 to 4'3. In the females the wing measures from 

 4*35 to 4*65 inches, and the tail from 3*9 to 4. 



Breeding males shot in June and July were still in female 

 plumage, which is apparently not assumed (? doffed) till after 

 the first breeding-season. Jerdon is wrong in stating that 

 the sexes are alike. In the females the sooty black is replaced 

 by brownish ash, and the feathers of the cheeks, throat and 

 breast are pale centred. 



* [I entirely agree that the Gilgit birds are inseparable from Sikhim ones. I have 

 compared six or seven of the former with some forty from Sikhim and other localities in 

 the Himalayas ; and while individuals are very variable, there is no Gilgit specimen 

 that cannot be exactly matched by others from Sikhim and elsewhere. Altai birds I 

 have not seen, and can therefore say nothing about the true speculigerus, which, 

 although this is unlikely, may prove, when closely examined, to be separable.— 

 A. O. H.J 



