I 



PYRRHULA ERITHACUS, Biyth. 



Beavan's Bullfinch. 



Pyrrhula erythaca, Blyth, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Beng. xxxii. p. 459.-Jerdon, Birds of India, ii. p. 389.-Gray 

 Hand-list of Birds, ii. p. 99, no. 7483._Hume, Stray Feathers, 1874, p. 455—Dresser, Birds of Europe! 

 pt. 51, note to P. major.— Hume, Stray Feathers, 1879, p. 108. 



Pyrrhula erithacus, Blyth, Ibis, 1862, p. 389,-Id. Ibis, 1863, p. 441, pi. x.-Id. Ibis, 1867, p. 43.-Beavan, Ibis 

 1868, p. 177.— Tristram, Ibis, 1871, p. 232. 



This lovely Bullfinch is one of the rarest of the genus Pyrrhula, and very few specimens exist in collections. 

 It was discovered by that excellent observer the late Captain Beavan, and was described by Mr. Blyth. 

 Dr. Jerdon, in the 'Birds of India,' calls it the "Red-breasted Bullfinch," an English name which I have 

 not adopted, as there are other Bullfinches which have red breasts, and for which the term would be more 

 appropriate; and I follow Mr. Hume in calling the species by the name of its discoverer, who thus 

 described his meeting with it :— " I came across a flock of this new species on my way up Mount Tongloo 

 in April 1862. There were two males and several females picking about the bushes near the path. 

 The females all escaped ; but I secured both the males, though one was too much damaged to preserve ; 

 the other I sent to Mr. Blyth, who described it in 'The Ibis ' for 1862 (p. 389), and in the following year 

 furnished its portrait ('Ibis,' 1863, pi. x.). This was the only occasion on which I observed the species. 

 The elevation was about 9000 feet." Neither Captain Elwes nor Mr. Blanford met with the bird during 

 their journey through Sikhim ; and the only other notice of the species occurs in the volume of ' Stray 

 ' Feathers ' for 1874, where Mr. Hume writes :— " A specimen of that rare Bullfinch Pyrrhula erythaca has 

 recently been obtained for me by Mr. Gammie (to whom I have repeatedly owed rare birds and eggs) at 

 Jor Bungala, close to Darjeeling, at an elevation of between five and six thousand feet. As far as I know, 

 this is the first specimen obtained since the late Captain Beavan shot the type on Mount Tongloo. Perhaps 

 others have been met with ; and if so I should be glad to learn the localities from and dates on which they 

 were procured. 



." Since this was in type Mr. Mandelli has also kindly sent me a specimen of Beavan's Bullfinch, procured 

 in April, also at Sikhim. It would appear that it is only an occasional migrant to Sikhim (just as Syrrhaptes 

 paradoxus in England) ; for we have for years maintained the keenest watch for this species, and heretofore 

 without success. Where can the home of this species be? Swinhoe has not met with it in China, nor any 

 of the Russians in Siberia, nor our people in Yarkand. However, there is a vast country outside all these 

 explorations, to which P. erythaca must belong." 



I have nothing to add to the above interesting note of Mr. Hume's, as in the sentences I have quoted I 

 believe to be comprised all that we know respecting the species ; and I can only re-echo Mr. Hume's hope 

 that more information respecting its habits may soon be forthcoming. 

 Mr. Blyth's description of the type is as follows : — 



" Upper parts pure ashy, like the back of Pyrrhula vulgaris, also the front of the neck, becoming whitish 

 on the throat ; pectoral region bright red, the abdominal pale ashy, and the lower tail-coverts white ; a broad 

 white band on the rump, as in P. vulgaris, above which is a slight black band ; and the upper tail-coverts 

 and tail are rich purple-black, the middle tail-feathers being I inch shorter than the outermost ; a black- 

 ring encircles the bill, and spreads over the loral region, this ring being bordered and set off with white- 

 wings black, except the smallest coverts, which are grey, and a brownish grey band (i inch broad) tipping 

 the greater coverts ; no red mark on the tertiaries. Bill black and feet pale. Length of wing 3f inches' 

 and of tail 3 inches." 



The Plate represents two adult males and an old female, all of the natural size. 



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