THE BIRDS OF GILGIT. 351 



167.— Pyrrhospiza punicea, Hodgs. (747). 



These birds seem loath to leave the mountains. I never 

 saw them below 10,000 feet, except in one place ( the mouth 

 of a ravine leading into the plain), and there only in the middle 

 of January 1878, at the time of greatest cold. 



The markings of the back in winter are much more defined 

 than in the summer plumage ; aud one female specimen has 

 broad buff tips to the wing-coverts, which form a conspicuous 

 wing bar. The outer edges of the secondaries are also broadly 

 tipped with whitish buff. 



The plate of this species in Bonaparte and Schlegel's 

 tl Monographic des Loxiens" shows the upper plumage as 

 darker and more uniform, while the red tint of the under parts 

 extends further down the breast, and is less scarlet iu tint than 

 in any of the specimens obtained in Gilgit. 



168.— Carduelis caniceps, Vig. (749). 



. Small flocks appeared from time to time during the season 

 of extreme cold, but never seemed to remain more than two 

 or three days at a time. They breed at about 9,000 feet, and 

 are common m Kashmir in summer as well as in winter. The 

 lores are black, interrupting the scarlet round the bill, which 

 latter is rather wider in the male than in the female. 



169.— Metoponia pusilla, Pall. (751). 



Appear at intervals during the winter, when driven down 

 by very severe weather. I shot two out of a flock on May 2 1st 

 at 5,000 feet (Gilgit), where they had been attracted by the 

 ripe mulberries ; but I have seen them high up in the snow, 

 at over 9,000 feet, in February. They breed at about that 

 height ; and iu August the young birds collect in large flocks 

 of fifty or sixty, when not a single old bird can be seen, 

 among them. They seem to acquire the red head in the first 

 year, as 1 have only procured one specimen without it (a 

 young male shot m Astor about November 20th) later than 

 August. 



On July 28th, I had a nest brought me, which my shikari 

 had been watching several days. He shot one of the pair of 

 old birds about the nest, which turned out to be the male of 

 M. pusilla. The nest contained three eggs perfectly fresh 

 (and the number was apparently not complete), in colour a 

 dull stone white, with small red brown spots dotted about 

 the larger end. The nest was about 20 feet from the ground, 

 in a cedar tree (Juniperus excelsa), neatly made of grass fibres, 

 and lined thickly with sheep's wool, and matted on the out- 



