82 



8 



occurrences of this pseudo-species in England ; but it is impossible to identify the greater part of 

 them. We trust, however, that, now that the adult female has been carefully figured by us, and 

 the young of the same sex by Mr. Gould, there will henceforth be less difficulty in recognizing its 

 occurrence in this country. Mr. Louis Fraser, writing to the Huddersfield ' Naturalist,' says, in 

 a letter dated the 13th of July, 1864: — "Your readers will be pleased to learn that I have a 

 living specimen of that exceedingly rare and doubtful British bird, Fringilla incerta of Bisso. I 

 at first mistook it for a hen Greenfinch." It will be noticed that Mr. Fraser does not say that the 

 bird had been captured in England ; but we presume from his writing the above to an English 

 periodical, that such was the case. We ourselves have not the least hesitation in saying that the 

 Fringilla incerta of Bisso is nothing but C. erythrinus, and is not a hybrid, as has been often 

 supposed. On the Continent this fact has long been recognized, and a very spirited controversy 

 was carried on between Dr. Degland and Frince Bonaparte as to whom was due the credit of 

 this identification. 



The figures of the adult pair of birds represented in the Plate are drawn from specimens 

 sent to us by Mr. Karl Sachse, who received them direct from Moscow. The description of the 

 adult male in spring dress is taken from one of Mr. Dode's Turkestan skins, procured by him at 

 Temscken on the 20th of April, 1866, and now in the collection of Mr. Howard Saunders. The 

 female is also described from a skin belonging to the last-named gentleman, as it is a bird in 

 fully adult breeding-dress, having been procured at Darasun in June 1868, and four eggs taken 

 at the same time. The male in summer plumage is described from an example in Lord Walden's 

 collection, shot at Umballah by the late Dr. Scott, and the young bird from a skin procured in 

 Turkestan by Dode, on the 9th of August, 1860, and marked a female, which is now in the 

 cabinet of Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun. 



In the preparation of the above article we have examined the following specimens : — 



E Mus. Sharpe and Dresser, 

 a, b, c. Moscow [C. Sachse). d, e. Crimea (W. Schliiter). f. Etawah (W. E. Brooks). 



E Mus. H. B. Tristram, 

 a, b. Himalayas. 



E Mus. E. Swinhoe. 

 a, b. W. Siberia {mus. Petrop.). c. Peking [Fleming), d. Amoy (R. S.). e. Canton (R. S.). 



E Mus. Howard Saunders, 

 a. Turkestan (Dode). b. Darasun, Dauria (Verdier). 



E Mus. Lord Walden. 

 a, b. Candeish. c. Darjeeling. e. Umballah (Scott). 



E Mus. J. H. Gurney, jun. 

 a, b. Turkestan (Bode). 



