



region, throat, breast, and flanks carmine, with grey edges to the feathers; abdomen and under 

 tail-coverts white, with a carmine tinge ; quills blackish brown, with light edges, which latter are 

 grey on the lesser wing-coverts, and on the larger coverts are very broad, white, tinged with 

 carmine towards the tips; on the median coverts the margins are white, but the carmine is 

 less developed ; hence on the wing are two white patches divided by carmine ; the primaries 

 have whitish margins, which in a few are washed with carmine. The tail-feathers are blackish 

 brown, with grey edges. The upper mandible is yellowish brown, the lower mandible light yellow; 

 legs are light brown ; iris dark brown. 



"In spring all the rose-coloured feathers have become bright blood-red, and the whitish has changed 

 to a snowy white colour, except the stomach and the under tail-feathers, which are protected from 

 the sun. The rose-colour is brightest on the wings, paler on the throat, breast, superciliary region, 

 flanks, and rump, where only the edges of the feathers are of that colour. The dark lines on the 

 crown- and back-feathers change in spring to a darker colour ; and the edges of the grey feathers 

 are lost by that time. The female is, in spring and autumn, of the same colour as the male, and 

 differs from it only in not having- the rose-colour on the flanks, the breast, and the median coverts; 

 also the white spots on the wings are smaller. 



"The young male in the first autumnal plumage is like an old female; but it has no white edges 

 on the large wing-coverts, which are of a brownish red colour ; on the median coverts are only very 

 narrow white edges which do not form a white spot when the wing is closed. 



"The young female bird in first autumn plumage has scarcely any red colour at all, it being replaced 

 by light grey, which is faintly shaded with red on the breast. 



"Measurements. Male — length 6 in. 3-6 lin., extent 10 in. 5 lin. to 11 in.; female — length 6 in. 

 2-4 lin., extent 10 in. 4-5 lin., wing 3 in. 5 lin., tail 2 in. 1 lin, oilmen 3i lin., middle toe 5i lin., 

 tarsus 6i lin." 



On the eve of going to press, Captain T. Biddulph kindly forwarded me the accompanying note on the 

 species: — " Erythrospiza incarnata was first met with by us (during the Yarkand Expedition) at Jankse, 

 between Leh and the Pangong lake, in September, in small numbers. It was observed at intervals, 

 generally in pairs, in the Karakash valley ; and on our first arrival in the plains of Turkestan, in October, I 

 saw it in large flocks of several hundreds ; later on I only observed it in smaller numbers." 



The figures in the Plate are of the size of life. 



PS 



