4°4 
PERCHING BIRDS. 
assumed, and that it takes two or even three moults before the full red plumage is 
gained. The plumage of the female differs from the male in being olive-yellow, 
where the latter is red; the head, lower back, and rump being much brighter 
than the mantle, which is dusky brown, while the under surface of the body is 
yellow, with ashy bases to the feathers. 
There has been some doubt whether there is more than one species of crossbill, 
and on this subject Mr. Oates, in his Birds of British India, writes as follows :— 
“ The crossbills of the Himalaya ( L. himalayana ) form a very small race, which 
I think it advisable to keep distinct. There is a very marked difference in size 
between the Himalayan birds and L. curvirostra, from Northern Europe, on the 
one hand, and L. japonica, from Japan, on the other; and the only crossbills 
which approach the Indian birds in size are from America. Sharpe’s view, that all 
these crossbills form but one species is no doubt correct; at the same time, the 
Himalayan crossbills are in my opinion quite distinguishable from all others in 
size, and it is consequently more convenient to retain them as distinct.” The 
range of the small Himalayan form extends from China and Ladak to Sikhim, and 
thence into Tibet and Western China; and recently a crossbill (L. luzoniensis) has 
been found in the Philippines. 
Nearly allied to the crossbills is the scarlet finch ( Hcvmatospiza sipahi), from 
the mountains of Nipal and Sikhim, distinguished by the very strong and stout 
beak being of normal form. The cock-bird of this species is red, while the hen is 
green; a remarkable feature of both sexes being the white colour of the bases of 
the feathers of the head and neck, which are seen conspicuously when the feathers 
are at all ruffled. The wing is of considerable length, reaching beyond the middle 
of the tail. The scarlet finch is an inhabitant of both forest and bushy districts, 
and utters a loud whistling note. 
The genus Telespyza includes a handsome finch recently dis¬ 
covered in the Pacific, and is characterised by the bill being short and 
much arched, with the upper mandible showing a tendency to cross the lower, as in 
the crossbill; the wings are of moderate length, reaching to about the end of the 
basal third of the tail-feathers; the tail is slightly forked; and the feet are remark¬ 
ably large and strong. This bird is peculiar to the island of Laysan, in the Pacific ; 
and we owe its discovery to Mr. Scott Wilson, who obtained a specimen at 
Honolulu. This was one of about forty brought there by Captain Bohm, who had 
found the birds common among the scrubby bushes covering the surface of their 
island home, where they were so excessively tame and unsophisticated that their 
capture with the hand was an easy matter. Mr. Wilson says that a specimen which 
he brought alive to England has a very clear metallic note, which may be rendered, 
chwit, chwee. It also twitters and chirps as it hops from side to side of the cage, 
and is altogether lively in its movements; while it is able to force the wires of its 
cage by means of its powerful bill. The adult has the head and sides of the face 
olive-green, shading behind into dark chestnut-brown on the back, where each 
feather has the centre black; the rump and upper tail-coverts are chestnut*brown; 
the primaries black, edged with yellowish; the tail is black, having each feather 
edged with greenish yellow; and the throat and breast are bright greenish yellow 
passing into white on the under-parts. 
Laysan Finch. 
