GROSBEAK. 253 



58— MALABAR GROSBEAK. 



Loxia Malabarica, Ind. Orn. i. 394. Lin. i. 305. Gm. Lin. i. S57. Daud. ii. 406. 

 Malabar Grosbeak, Gen. Syn. iii. 154. Shaiv's Zool. ix. 262. 



LENGTH four inches and a half. Bill thick, short, pointed, 

 pale ash-colour, darker above ; nostrils covered with feathers ; the 

 plumage above brown ; front and crown variegated with black ; lore, 

 cheeks, and all beneath dirty white ; sides barred white and brown ; 

 wings coverts brown, beneath dirty white ; quills blackish, the 

 secondaries inclined to brown ; vent and under tail coverts white ; 

 upper ones the same, margined with black ; tail cuneiform, black, 

 the two middle feathers pointed, the others obtuse ; legs purplish. 

 The female is much the same, but paler, and the upper tail coverts 

 not white. 



Inhabits the East Indies, common about Calcutta; is frequently 

 tamed, and serves to amuse its master, a pair always kept in the 

 same cage ; each bird has a small cord fastened round the body ; the 

 owner holds one of them by the cord, and the other, though thrown 

 up into the air, always returns, and sits by its companion : is found 

 both in the upper Provinces, and in Bengal ; is the Churaca of the 

 Musselmans, and the Pedory of the Bengalese, and Hindustan 

 Proper. For the above I am indebted to Dr. Buchanan. In Gen. 

 Hardwicke's collection of drawings it is named Churukua; in that 

 of Sir John Anstruther, Chuckee. 



59— ASH-HEADED GROSBEAK. 



Loxia Indica, Ind. Orn. i. 394. Daud. ii. 404. Shaw's Zool. ix. 286. 

 Ash-headed Grosbeak, Gen. Syn. Sup. 155. 



SIZE small. Bill blue; head and neck slaty ash-colour; back, 

 wings, and tail dusky ; the last tipped with white ; breast and belly 



