IN JERDON OR STRAY FEATHERS. 417 



751 bis.— Linaria brevirostris, Gould. 



I reproduce Moore's original description and measurements. 

 (P. Z. S., 1855, p. 217) :— 



" Allied to L. montium, but distinguished from that species 

 by its lighter colour, and the male having the pink colour 

 on the rump paler; the axillaries and the basal edge of the 

 inner webs of the primaries and secondaries pure white; the 

 primaries and secondaries above are also broadly margined ex- 

 teriorly with white ; the female is also paler, and broadly edo-ed, 

 as in the male with white. 



" Length, 5 inches ; of the wing, 3'87 ; of tail, 2*62 ; central 

 feathers, 0*5 less ; bill to frontal plumes, 0*3 ; to gape, 0*5 ; 

 tarsus, 0'6 ; centre toe and claw, 0"62." 



This description agrees well enough with the Ladak, Sikhim, 

 and Yarkand birds, but the dimensions seems in one respect 

 scarcely reconcilable. None of the birds before me were 

 measured in the flesh, but the wing, in which the greatest differ- 

 ence exists, as compared with Moore's dimensions, cannot have 

 much changed in drying, besides which Moore's measurements 

 must, like ours, have been taken from the dry skin. All the 

 live birds before me are much about the same size. 



Dimensions. — Length, (allowing for the contraction of the 

 skins and carbolized specimens), 4*8 to 5 inches; wing, 3'1 to 

 3-2; tail, 2*4 to 2*5 ; centre feathers, 03 shorter ; bill to frontal 

 plumes, 0'29 to 0'35 ; to gape, 04 to 45 ; tarsus, 0'58 to 0-61 ; 

 hind toe and claw, 0*5 to 0'58. The first four primaries seem to 

 be almost the same length ; in some the second, and in some the 

 third are the longest, and in all the first is about 0*05 shorter 

 than the longest. 



Description. — The legs and feet are brown ; the nails long 

 and slender; the bill (apparently) fleshy yellow, brown at 

 the tip. 



Plumage. — The whole head, neck, back, wing-coverts, chin, 

 throat, and breast pale earthy dingy fulvous, or pale sandy 

 brown, in different specimens ; the feathers of the crown, back, 

 and breast centred darker; axillaries, wing-lining, abdomeu, 

 vent, and lower tail-coverts white, tinged slightly fulvous on the 

 abdomen ; sides aud flanks with a few faint yellowish browu 

 streaks ; tail, (which is much forked, and has all the feathers, 

 but specially the central ones, acutely pointed), dark brown, 

 greyer on the laterals ; all but the central feathers, with the 

 major portions of the outer webs white, and with the inner webs 

 margined white, very broadly in the exterior laterals and less 

 broadly in each succeeding feather ; primaries and secondaries 

 hair brown, the former margined with pure white, most broady 



