Page:The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma (Birds Vol 2).djvu/234

220 Iris dark brown ; legs and feet dusky brown ; bill dark horny brown, paling at base of upper mandible. Length about 6-5 ; tail 2-6 ; wing 3-3 ; tarsus -8 ; bill from gape -5.

Distribution. A winter visitor to the whole of India as far south as the Nilgiri hills, and to the provinces to the east as far south as Arrakan and Northern Pegu. In summer the range of this species extends to Northern Europe and Northern Asia. Considerable numbers of these birds appear to summer in the higher and more remote portions of the Himalayas, breeding at 10,000 feet.

Habits, fyc. Breeds in July and August, in low bushes near the ground, constructing a cup- shaped nest of grass. The eggs are described as being blue, marked with a few chocolate spots, and measuring about -81 by '6.

762. Carpodacus severtzovi. Severtzoff's Rose-Finch.

Propasser rubicillus (Guld.}, Horsf. fy M. Cat. ii, p. 457. Carpodacus rubicilla (Giild.), Jerd. B. I. ii, p. 397 ; Hume fy Henders. Lah. to Yark. p. 258 ; Hume, N. $ E. p. 471 ; id. Cat, no. 737 ; Biddidph, Ibis, 1881, p. 82. Carpodacus severtzovi, Sharpe, P. Z. S. 1886, p. 354; id. Cat. B. M. xii, p. 400 j Oates in Hume's N, fy E. 2nd ed. ii, p. 154.

The Caucasian Rose-Finch, Jerd.

Coloration. Male. Forehead and whole crown, except a patch on the hinder part, white, each feather margined with crimson ; lores and feathers near bill deep crimson ; hinder part of crown, hind neck, sides of neck, back, and scapulars rosy ashy ; all the coverts and quills of the wing and the tail brown, edged with the colour of the back ; rump and upper tail-coverts rose-colour ; ear-coverts pale rose-colour ; cheeks, chin, throat, and fore neck white and crimson, like the crown ; remainder of lower surface rosy mottled with ashy, the feathers of the breast and middle abdomen with small subterminal white shaft-streaks.

Female. Upper plumage ashy brown, streaked with dark brown ; wing-coverts and quills brown, margined with ashy ; tail brown, edged with ashy, and the outer web of the outermost feather white ; sides of the head and entire lower plumage paler than the upper plumage and everywhere streaked with brown.

Bill grey horny, with the upper mandible brownish above, the lower yellowish horny at base ; iris brown ; legs and feet brown or dusky brown ; claws dusky brown and dusky blackish (Scully}.

Length nearly 8 ; tail 3*5 ; wing 4*5 ; tarsus 1 ; bill from gape -7.

C. rubicilla from the Caucasus differs from the present species in being everywhere of a much deeper red colour.

Distribution. Gilgit and Ladak, extending through Central Asia to Eastern Siberia. In summer this species is found in Turkestan from 10,000 to 12,000 feet and in winter it descends to the level of Gilgit.