PYRRHULAUDA. 193 



Length.— '6 to 6-25 inches, wing 4, tail 275, bill at front 056, 

 Hab. — Sind, Panjab, N. W. Provinces, Beloochistan, Arabia, Southern 

 Persia, Afghanistan, Cashmere, Soathern and Eastern Europe and 

 N. E. Africa. Extremely common in Siad on the bare stony hills and 

 plains. 



Gen. Fyrrh\ilB.\ida.— Smith. 



Bill short, very stout, sides compressed; culmen arched; commis- 

 sure straight; wings long; tertiaries lengthened ; 1st primary small ; 

 tail moderate ; toes small. 



Pyrrhulauda grisea, Scop.; Son. Voy.t. 113, 2; Jerd. B. Ind. 

 ii. p. 424, No. 760 ; Hume, Sir. F. i. p. 212 ; id. vol. vii. p. 66 ; Gray, 

 Handlist B. No. 7834; Murray, Hdbk., Zool, Sfc, Sind, p. 186. 

 Pyrrhulauda crucigera, Tern. PI. Col, 269, 1. — The Black-bellied 

 Finch-Laek. 



ilfaZe.— Forehead and cheeks white, or fulvous white; crown of the 

 head, back, scapulars, rump and upper tail-coverts grey brown, with 

 a slight tinge of rufescent on the back, the feathers centred dusky ; 

 cheeks whitish ; primaries, secondaries and wing-coverts brown, the 

 feathers edged paler ; chin, throat, breast, sides of the neck and 

 entire lower surface black, the flanks and sides of breast and abdomen 

 greyish white ; bill pale brown ; legs fleshy ; irides dark brown. 



Length. — 4"75 to 5 inches, wing 8, tail 2, bill at front 0'37. The 

 Female is readily distinguishable by the absence of the black under 

 surface and a more rufescent tinge on the upper 



Sah. — Sind, Panjab, N. W. Provinces, Oudh, Bengal, Kutch, Kattia- 

 war, Rajputana (Jeypore and Jodhpore) N. Guzerat, Concan, Deccan, 

 Central and South India. Affects open plains and ploughed lands. 



Pyrrhulauda melanauchen, Gab. Mus. Hein. i. p. 124 ; Finsch. 



Trans. Zool. 8ocy. vii. p. 275, pi. xxvi.; Gray, Handlist Birds. No. 

 7837; Blf. East. Pers. ii. p. 246. Pyrrhulauda affinis, Blythjbis. 1867, 

 p. 185 ; Hume, 8tr. F. i. p. 212 ; id. vii. p. 66 ; Murray, Hdbh., Zool., 

 Sfc, Sind, p. 186. 



" The male has a broad frontal band, cheeks, ear-coverts and a band 

 from these round the base of the occiput and a large patch on either 

 side of the breast, white ; in the case of the two latter often tinged 

 brownish. 



"The base of the lower mandible, chin, throat, central portion of breast, 

 abdomen, vent, and lower tail-coverts, axillaries and wing lining (except 

 lower primary greater coverts, which are pale grey brown like the 

 lower surface of the quills) intensely deep, at times somewhat sooty, at 

 times almost chocolate-brown ; the crown and upper part of occiput 

 are deep brown, never quite so intense as the lower parts, often 

 considerably lighter, and more purely brown; the anterior portion 

 of the side of the neck behind the lower half of the ear-ooverts ia 

 always like the breast, sometimes the deep colour of these parts extends 

 behind the whole of the ear-coverts, and right round the back of the 

 neck, forming a collar immediately behind the white basal occipital 

 25 z 



