960 Synopsis of Indian Fringillida. QNo. 156. 



parts also are nearly uniform pale rufescent, but little whiter on the 

 throat, and with but few and small dark spots on the breast ; and the 

 sides of the occiput above the ear- coverts, with the nape and sides of 

 the neck, are pretty much of the same colour as the parts below. The 

 wings, too, of this species are remarkable for having the first primary 

 but half an inch long, while the second equals or even somewhat ex- 

 ceeds the three next : and the tail has its outermost feather wholly to 

 near the base, and also the greater part of the next, rufous-white. 

 Discovered on the eastern coast of the peninsula by Lord Arthur Hay, 

 a zealous and successful cultivator of Ornithology, to whose honour 

 the species has been dedicated. 



5. M. cantillans, Jerdon, MS. ; the true Aggun of the natives of India. 

 Most allied to the last species, and having nearly the same form of 

 wing, but at once distinguished by the absence of any marked crest, 

 and by having the outer web only of the penultimate tail-feather white, 

 together with the whole of the outermost excepting an oblique basal 

 third of its inner web. Length five inches and three-quarters, by ten 

 inches in alar expanse ; wing two inches and seven-eighths (or two 

 and five-eighths in the female) ; tail two inches : first primary three- 

 quarters of an inch, the four next generally about equal, but the second 

 and fifth sometimes a trifle shorter. Upper-parts dusky brown, the 

 feathers laterally margined and slightly edged at tip with rufescent- 

 brown, imparting a little the appearance of the nestling plumage charac- 

 teristic of the Lark tribe : alars and their coverts margined with rufous- 

 brown : a pale streak over the eye ; throat and below the ear- coverts 

 whitish; and the under-parts pale rufescent with small breast-spots, 

 in general not very distinct. Bill dusky horn-colour, the lower man- 

 dible pale; and feet fleshy-brown. Inhabits Bengal as well as the 

 Indian peninsula, and is a favorite cage bird with the natives for its 

 sweet and plaintive, but not much varied, song. 



6. M. phcenicura, Franklin, P. Z. S. 1831, p. 119. Remarkable for the 

 length and straightness of its wings, of which the first primary measures 

 an inch, and the second is a quarter of an inch shorter than the third 

 and fourth. Inhabits the peninsula of India. 



Coryphidea, Nobis, n. g. In this form, the wings are long and straight, 

 with the first three primaries equal (the representative of the usual small 

 first one being obsolete). Bill rather short, subconical and moderately 



