ON 
nN 
2 
Young (Kotegurh, India, 25th December). Differs from the adult female in having the entire head brown, 
the feathers with dark central streaks; forehead tinged with dull orange; upper parts duller and more 
broadly margined than in the adult female; throat and breast black, the feathers broadly margined 
with yellowish white; rest of the underparts as in the adult. 
Obs. There appears to be but little difference between the winter plumage and that worn in the summer, 
except that the margins to the feathers are much broader in the winter, and gradually get abraded off 
towards the summer, so that by the middle or end of the summer the light margins are nearly 
worn away. 
THERE are but few of our European birds about which much less is known than the present 
species. It is only met with in the south-eastern corner of Europe proper, but ranges eastward 
to Ladak. Pallas first described it from the Caucasus, but gave no details beyond that he found 
it common in the Caucasus and on the Caspian. Dr. Kriiper informs me that examples are 
obtained almost every winter near Smyrna; and I am indebted to this gentleman for a specimen 
from there. Mr. C. G. Danford has lately brought back a fine series of specimens from the 
Taurus Mountains, where this Finch appears to be common; and it ranges as far south as the 
Lebanon, where, Canon Tristram states, a specimen was procured near Beyrout. Mr. Blanford 
says that he found it by no means rare in the Elburz Mountains, north of Tehran, and that it 
was also found in the south, but was only met with at a considerable elevation. According to 
Dr. Severtzoff it is resident in Turkestan, occurring at an elevation of from 4500 to 10,500 feet ; 
and Dr. Henderson, who met with it in Ladak, writes (Lahore to Yarkand, p. 259) as follows :— 
“This species was met with in immense flocks, both in July and October, almost throughout 
Ladak, from Dras to Fota-la Pass. It was observed feeding on the flowers and seeds of an 
Artemisia. It probably breeds in May, and not impossibly in Ladak. When in flocks the sexes 
seem to keep apart, as out of some flocks a number of males only would be shot, while out of 
others nothing but females were obtained. ‘These birds are very restless, constantly on the move, 
flying from bush to bush along the hill-side, and making a low, chirping noise.” To this 
Mr. A. O. Hume adds the following note:—‘‘ Later in the autumn this bird retreats further 
south, and enormous numbers swarm over the lower ranges nearer the plains, at heights of from 
4000 to 7000 feet. I have known of thirty being killed at one shot near Kotegurh, in the valley 
of the Sutlej.” Dr. Jerdon (B. of India, ii. p. 411) says that it “has been found occasionally in 
the N.W. Himalayas, not, it appears, as a regular visitor; for Hutton says he observed this bird 
in 1854-55 at Mussooree after an interval of many years. It appeared to be always in pairs, 
and, like our Siskin and Goldfinch, is very fond of alighting upon the tall coarse nettles which 
abound there. It was found by Speke in Spiti and Ladak in summer; and in Afghanistan by 
Griffith, who observed it in flocks about cultivation, rather shy, feeding on thistles, to which they 
cling. Adams found it very common in Ladak, in flocks, with the habits and call-note like those 
of the European Redpoll.” Until, comparatively speaking, quite lately next to nothing was 
known respecting the habits of this little Finch. Degland and Gerbe, writing in 1867, dismiss 
the subject with the following remark, viz.:—“ meeurs, régime et propagation inconnus;” and 
until the above-quoted notes of Dr. Henderson were published nothing further appears to have 
been known beyond the scanty information furnished by Dr. Jerdon. Iam therefore the more 
