404 BIRDS OF INDIA. 



745. Propasser Murrayi, Blyth. 



J. A. S. 1863. 



Murray's Kose-finch. 



Descr. — A female only of this species is known. Above earthy 

 brown, the feathers of the head edged with white, and a white 

 eye-brow from the eye to the nape ; back very faintly pale 

 edged ; wings with two pale bands, and the tips of the secondaries 

 also pale ; primaries and tail feathers very narrowly edged with 

 pale ; beneath, the chin and throat are albescent, with a few ill- 

 defined dusky spots on the chin, and becoming fulvescent on the 

 throat ; the rest of the lower parts pale earthy brown, passing to 

 rusty on the middle of the belly, vent and under tail-coverts. 



Bill horny brown ; legs pale brown. Length 6 inches ; wing 3 ; 

 tail 2i. 



This bird was said to have been procured somewhere in the 

 Gwalior territories, but if so, must have been a straggler from the 

 Himalayas. It appears to differ from the females of the other 

 known species, sufficiently to warrant its being considered distinct. 



I am inclined to think that the Pyrgita ? concolor of my Cata- 

 logue No. 178, might have belonged to the present group, and in 

 its coloration it much resembles the females of P. githaginea and 

 P. sinaitica ; but, as it was founded on a single specimen, shot in the 

 Deccan along with a lot of the so-called Ortolan, I shall not record 

 it separately. It was of a nearly uniform light brown colour, palest 

 beneath, and albescent on the chin and vent. Length 6 inches ; 

 wing 3| ; tail 2^. 



Other species of this genus are P. rosea, Pallas, from Northern 

 Asia, occasionally visiting Europe ; P. sinaitica, Licht. (synoica, 

 Temm.,) from Arabia and Eastern Africa ; P. githaginea, Licht., 

 from Northern Africa and the South of Europe. The latter is 

 placed by Bonaparte in his genus Erythrospiza, but its colors 

 appear to be quite those of this group. Two other species 

 placed under the same genus, viz., Fr. obsoleta, and F. rhodoptera, 

 of Lichtenstein, from Central and Western Asia, perhaps belong 

 rather to Carpodacus. Whether the remarkable, long-tailed, small 

 Red-ftaches of North-eastern Asia, forming the genus Uragus, 



