Q9S JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXV HI. 
Four males and two females preserved yield the following measurements in 
millimetres : — 
Bill Jrom skull. Wing. Tail. Tarsus. 
Males .. 16-5—17 79-5—81 49-5—51-5 14-5—15 
Females .. 15-5 77-5 — 78-5 48 — 49-5 14.5 
In the May birds the organs were but partly enlarged. The females differ 
in plumage from the males only in the smaller extent of the red area about the 
base of the bill. The colour of the soft parts was in both sexes as follows : — 
iris dark brown ; mouth white; bill fleshy white, sometimes tipped \vith brown; 
legs fleshy browm. 
The Gold-fronted Finch — Serinus pusillus {Paiil.) 
It was with particular pleasure that I first found this species on April 20th, 
as it had been for some years a special object of my search, and I was afraid that 
it would have left the Srinagar Valley before my arrival. On that day I found 
two large flocks at about 6,000 feet in a large open nullah of the Une of hills behind 
Srinagar. These flocks were rather loose and straggling in character, the birds 
breaking away from or rejoining the others freely when disturbed. The ground 
that they were on was without trees, but covered with bushes and coarse herbage 
growing amongst a litter of boulders ; on settling they rapidly fluttered dow-n to 
feed on the seed heads of the grass and other coarse herbage, or on the ground. In 
manner and demeanour they were very reminiscent of Gold-finches, and indeed a 
fe-w days later I met with a mixed flock of both kinds considerably lower down, 
almost on the level of the plain, w-here they were feeding on an open stretch of 
short turf thickl}’ covered with stones. Although shy and restless the two birds 
are easily differentiated in the field ; the Gold-fronted Finch appears very dark 
with a blackish looking head, and at a near approach the golden poll shines very 
brightly in the sun. The note is a clear double call, distinctive in character, but 
hard to describe ; the song is hardly more than a shrill warbling twitter, a more 
sustained version of the call note. 
These flocks continued to frequent the same nullah for a few days but had 
apparent^ broken up or moved away by the 29th April, ; on that date I looked 
for them without success, although a few- indi\iduals were singing in the under- 
growth about a small stream w-hich ran down one side of the nuUah. 
Later, on May 4th, I found that about a dozen birds w-ere frequenting a line of 
willow trees planted along a water channel on another part of the same range of 
hills, and these birds were in the same place on May 7th. Five specimens were 
obtained in all and in view of the comparative rarity of this bird in collections it 
may be as w-ell to place their measurements on record. 
No. Sex. 
Date. 
Bill jrom 
skull. 
Wing. 
Tail. 
Tarsus. 
3224 
20 April 
9 
75 
57 
15 Millimetres. 
3237 d ? 
24 April 
10-5 
75-5 
54-5 
15-5 
3266 d 
4 May 
10 
76 
55-5 
15-5 
.3265 
10 
75-5 
54 
15 
3284 i 
7 May 
10-5 
76 
.53-5 
15 
No. 3224 is clearly an 
immature bird as the whole top of the head is a dull 
rufescent browai, faintlj’ streaked with sooty black. The ear coverts are dull 
rufescent brown. The remainder of the plumage is similar to that of the adult 
males. There is some variation in the depth of colour of the gold poll in the adult 
birds, but this appears purely individual. The organs were minute in all the birds 
except that in No. 3284 they were very slightly enlarged. The soft parts are 
constant in colours as follow-s : — iris brown ; mouth wliitish ; bill horny blackish, 
legs black. Nos. 3224, 3265 and 3266 show slight traces of moult about the head. 
The White-capped Bunting — Emheriza stewarti, Blj-th. 
The White-capped Bunting was very common along the road from Kohala to 
Baramullah, and about the slopes of the Takht-i-Suliman and the range of hills 
