86 



Adult Female (Shiraz, Persia, June) . Differs from the male in being much duller and in having scarcely 

 any red in the plumage; upper parts dull dust-brown, underparts similar, but lighter; wings paler 

 than in the male, the quills with only the faintest wash of pink on the edge of the outer web ; tail dull 

 brown, the feathers edged with pale red at the base ; upper tail-coverts slightly tipped with rosy red. 



Young (Algeria) . Upper parts dull sandy fulvous brown ; underparts warm brownish buff, no trace of red 

 in the plumage; wings and tail dark brown, primaries slightly edged and tipped with light sandy 

 brown ; secondaries, wing-coverts, and tail-feathers more broadly edged with pale fulvous browfl. 



Male in ivinter (Malta, 15th November). Resembles the female above described, but has no trace of pink 

 in the plumage. 



This little Bullfinch inhabits Northern Africa, being but seldom found in Europe proper, and 

 has been met with as far east as Sindh. 



It is said by Roux to have been met with in Southern France ; but there appears to be great 

 doubt respecting the truth of this statement, which Baron J. W. von Midler and Messrs. Jaubert 

 and Barthelemy-Lapommeraye strongly doubt. 



According to Salvadori (Ucc. d'ltal. p. 160) it is an extremely rare straggler to Italy. Savi 

 records the capture of a male specimen not far from Pisa in the spring of 1839, and it subse- 

 quently lived five years in confinement. A similar occurrence is recorded by Perini from the 

 Venetian district in 1850. It is, however, somewhat singular that there should not be as yet a 

 single authentic record of its occurrence in the island of Sicily, so much closer to the African 

 coast. In Malta, according to Mr. C. A. Wright (Ibis, 1864, p. 51), "a few of these birds are 

 taken annually, generally from October to March. One was caught in the last week of October 

 1860, and another in November 1862. It soon becomes very tame in captivity. Its note is like 

 the sound of a penny trumpet, from which it derives its Maltese name ;" and he further says 

 (Ibis, 1870, p. 489) that several young birds were taken during the summer of 1869, and he 

 found one amongst some Finches exposed for sale in the market in October in that year. It 

 probably occurs as a rare straggler in Greece ; for Von der Miihle describes a bird obtained near 

 Lamia in the summer season, which appears to be the present species. I do not find any further 

 record of its occurrence in Europe proper ; nor does it appear to have been met with in Asia 

 Minor; but Canon Tristram records it from Palestine, where, he says (Ibis, 1859, p. 34), it is 

 found in the most desert portions of the rocky wilderness between Bethlehem and Hebron ; and 

 he further adds (Ibis, 1868, p. 208) that it was not uncommon near Beersheba, in the desert 

 country. 



In North-east Africa it is common in the desert country, according to Von Heuglin in the 

 vicinity of the Nile, between 27° and 30° N. lat. ; and Chalihl Effendi, in a few notes on this 

 species (J. f. O. 1859, p. 469), says that it "is a resident in all portions of North-east Africa, 

 where the desert reaches to the banks of the Nile, being met with in Upper Egypt, Nubia, the 

 oases, and even in Arabia Petrsea. The Egyptains know it well under the name of i Asfur el 

 hadjar' (Little Stonebird) ; but I do not know the Nubian name. In North and Central Nubia 

 and Egypt it lives in large flocks of about eighty individuals, visits the fields like our Finches, 

 and wanders about between the river and the mountains. The wilder and more rugged rocks 

 are places where it is sure to be met with. Not being pursued, it is very tame, but keeps apart 



