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PYRRHULA NIPALENSIS, Hodgs. 



Nepaulese Bullfinch. 



Pyrrhula Nipalensis, Hodgs. Asiat. Res., vol. xix. p. 155. — Blyth, Cat. of Birds in Mus. of As. Soc. Calcutta, 

 p. 122.— List of Sp. and Draw, of Mamm. and Birds presented to Brit. Mus. by R. H. Hodgson, Esq., 

 p. 111. 



nipalensis, Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, vol. ii. p. 387, Pyrrhula, sp. 3. 



nepalensis, Bonap. Consp. Gen. A v., p. 525, Pyrrhula, sp. 5. 



A similarity of colouring is found to prevail amongst the members of almost every well-defined genus of 

 birds ; to this general rule, however, as in every other case, exceptions sometimes occur, and the present 

 bird is an instance in point ; the red colouring which pervades the breast of the under surface of the 

 males of every other species being absent in the Pyrrhula Nipalensis, besides which the colouring of the 

 sexes is very similar, while in all the other known members of the genus, as now restricted, they are very 

 dissimilar. The rich forests of Nepaul and the regions skirting the great Himalayan range are the localities 

 in which this bird is to be found in a state of nature ; and it was there Mr. Hodgson procured the specimens 

 from which the subjoined descriptions were taken. 



In size the Pyrrhula Nipalensis exceeds all the other known Pyrrhulce, which, coupled with its sombre 

 colouring, precludes the possibility of its being confounded with any of its congeners. 



The following is Mr. Hodgson's descriptions above referred to :— 



" Form as in erythrocephala but the bill grosser, with the tomial line of its upper mandible less even, and 

 the tail still more conspicuously forked and graduated. 



" Male. Brown, smeared slaty-blue (like common slate-stone) ; with black rump, wings and tail all 

 reflecting a brilliant purplish blue gloss ; cap picked out with dusky, and a band of the same hue round the 

 base of the bill ; a white spot under the eye ; band across the rump ; lower belly, vent and under tail- 

 coverts white ; outer web of the last tertiaries fiery red ; bill greenish horn, with black tip ; legs fleshy 



brown ; iris brown. 



" Female. Rather less, exactly like the male, save only that the outer web of the last quill towards the 

 body is invariably yellow, and not fiery as in the male ; the young at first want this distinctive sexual mark. 



" Habitat. Northern and central Nepaul." 



The figures represent the two sexes of the size of life. 



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