DESERT TRUMPETER BULLFINCH. 89 



first three slightly, the rest more broadly,) with creamy 

 white; in the secondaries the outer border is the 

 broadest, and the cream-colour is more deeply tinged 

 with rosy pink; the tail is emarginate, and the 

 feathers present the same deep brown colour, broadly 

 edged with cream-colour and rosy red, as the wing 

 feathers, so that when the wings are closed, they form, 

 with the tail, a pleasing striped appearance. All the under 

 parts (more or less,) the under tail coverts, feathers round 

 the beak and rump are rosy red, mingled on the crop 

 and abdomen with grey. 



Dr. Bolle says that when old, the males have the 

 scapularies speckled with red, and that this colour is 

 much deeper on the back. In autumn the male is less 

 beautiful, — the red is less remarkable, and the ashy 

 grey above, changes into a dull grey brown, on which 

 account, after moulting for the first time, they have a 

 strongly marbled appearance. In this stage a reddish 

 shade on the back is above all perceptible. The beak 

 is a rosy coral colour, which Dr. Bolle says gives it in 

 the distance the appearance of an exotic bird. Tarsi 

 and feet rose; iris brownish black. 



The female is above brownish grey, but that colour is 

 lost in the clearer tints below, which from the throat 

 downwards, become exclusively whitish. The upper- 

 part of the wings reddish grey. On the throat and 

 immediately under the beak clear rose; tail rosy red; 

 scapularies edged with rosy reel. The greater wing 

 coverts and tail feathers like the male, only smaller, and 

 the rose less marked; under tail coverts pale reddish 

 grey; feet paler rose than the male. No bands across 

 the wings of either sex. 



The plumage of the young differs somewhat from 

 that of the adult. When it leaves the nest it is clear 



