CARPODACUS ROSEUS. 



Rosy Grosbeak. 



Fringilla rosea, Pallas, Reise Russischen Rheichs, iii. p. 699. 



Passer roseus, Pallas, Zoographia Rosso-Asiat. ii. p. 23. 



Pyrrhula rosea, Temminck, Manuel d'Ornithologie, i. p. 335. — Naumann, Vogel Deutschlands, iv. Taf. 113. 

 fig. 3. — Schrenck, Reise Amurlande, p. 295. — Radde, Sibir. Reise, p. 186. 



Carpodacus roseus, Kaup, Natiirl. System, p. 161.— Gray, Genera of Birds, i. p. 384.— Bonap. & Schlegel, 

 Monogr. Loxiens, p. 18, pis. 19, 20. — Bonap. Conspectus Gen. Av. i. p. 533. — Degland & Gerbe, 

 Oiseaux d'Europe, p. 157.— Gray, Hand-1. Birds, ii. p. 102.— Cordeaux, Ibis, 1875, p. 183. — Taczanowski, 

 Bull. Soc. Zool. France, i. p. 181.— Seebohm, Ibis, 1876, p. 165.— Blakiston & Pryor, Ibis, 1878, p. 545. 



Erythrospiza rosea, Bonap. Comp. List Birds Europe andN. America (1838), p. 34. — Gould, B. Europe, iii.pl. 207. 



Erythrothorax albifrons, Brehm, Naumannia, 1805, p. 276. 



Propasser roseus, David & Oustalet, Oiseaux de la Chine. 



Uragus sibiricus, Swinhoe, Ibis, 1876, p. 333 (err.'). 



The home of the present beautiful Grosbeak is Siberia and the Eastern Pakearctic region ; but it possesses 

 considerable interest from its occidental occurrence in Europe. Bonaparte and Schlegel state that it is seen, 

 though very rarely, in Russia, in Hungary, and even in Germany. More definite instances of its capture 

 within the limits of the Western PalaBarctic region are those which have taken place in Heligoland, no less 

 than four specimens being in Mr. Gatke's collection. It seems to wander occasionally to the island in the 

 autumn, two of Mr. Gatke's specimens having been captured in the month of October, all the birds in his 

 possession being immature. 



Pallas, who first discovered this bird, says that it nests in the north of Siberia on the banks of the Lena and 

 Tungusk rivers, and winters in the willow-covered islands and desert-tracts near the Silenga and Uda rivers. 

 Schrenck observed it in Amurland ; but only in autumn, and Radde met with it in the Buraga Mountains 

 in autumn and spring. It was found by Dr. Dybowski to be common in Eastern Siberia at the season of 

 migration ; but it does not nest either in the southern parts of Lake Baical or in Dauria. Pere David 

 observes that it is very common in the eastern parts of Siberia, and visits the neighbourhood of Pekin in 

 large numbers towards the end of the autumn ; but in the spring it has totally disappeared from China, 

 having returned to the more northern countries before the end of the winter. During the extreme cold 

 weather he found it established in thelsinling, feeding on seeds and small grains, which constitute its principal 

 food. In Japan, according to Mr. Blakiston and Pryer, it is called O-mashi-ko ; and they have met with 

 it in Yezo and purchased other specimens at Tokio. 



The following description of the sexes is translated from the work of MM. Bonaparte and Schlegel: — 



"Adult male^ Lower parts, head, neck, rump, and upper tail-coverts of a beautiful rose-colour, passing 

 into white on the lower belly and under tail-coverts ; all the plumes of these parts are blackish on their 

 basal half; and this tint is often prolonged, in the form of a pointed spot, as far as the middle of the web ; 

 frontal feathers and those of the throat pointed, of a shining white colour slightly tinged with rose ; feathers 

 of the mantle each with a large, blackish, pointed spot, and largely bordered with reddish on each side ; 

 wings blackish brown ; lesser wing-coverts edged with rose-colour, the least margined in their terminal half 

 with white slightly tinged with rose-colour ; the greater coverts have a border of rose-colour, verging to 

 carmine, occupying the whole of the outer web towards the point of the feathers ; quills bordered with a 

 tinge of buff passing into white on the edge of the tertiary quills ; lower wing-coverts white, the small 

 feathers near the edge of the wing tinged with reddish ; tail-feathers blackish brown, edged with reddish on 

 their outer web. 



" Young female. Above olive-brown, slightly tinged with yellow on the rump, edges of the feathers of a 

 clearer colour, passing more or less into whitish on the mantle and rump ; an indistinct whitish line behind 

 the eye ; wings and tail blackish brown passing into olivaceous grey on the outer edge of the feathers ; lesser 

 and greater wing-coverts tipped with yellowish grey ; under surface white, uniform on the lower abdomen 

 and under tail-coverts, and having on the other parts large longitudinal spots of dark olivaceous brown." 



Pallas states that the plumage of the old female has everywhere a slight shade of dark rose-colour, and is 

 a little inferior in size to the male ; but this description wants the striations on the upper surface. I may 

 have figured a young male; but, judging from the allied birds, I think I have not, and that the Plate 

 represents two males and a female of the natural size in their finest state of plumage. 



M 





