region, throat, breast, and flanks carmine, with grey edges to the feathers; abdomen and under
tail-coverts white, with a carmine tin g e ; quills blackish brown, with light edges, which latter are
grey on the lesser wing-coverts, and on the larger coverts are very broad, white, tinged with
carmine towards the tip s ; on the median coverts the margins are white, but the carmine is
less developed; hence on the wing are two white patches divided by carmine; the primaries
have whitish margins, which in a few are washed with carmine. The tail-feathers are blackish
brown, with grey edges. The upper mandible is yellowish brown, the lower mandible light yellow;
legs are light brown; iris dark brown.
“ In spring all the rose-coloured feathers have become bright blood-red, and the whitish has changed
to a snowy white colour, except the stomach and the under tail-feathers, which are protected from
the sun. The rose-colour is brightest on the wings, paler on the throat, breast, superciliary region,
flanks, and rump, where only the edges o f the feathers are of that colour. The dark lines on the
crown- and back-feathers change in spring to a darker co lo u r; and the edges of the grey feathers
are lost by that time. The female is, in spring and autumn, o f the same colour -as the male, and
differs from it only in not having the rose-colour on the flanks, the breast, and the median coverts;
also the white spots on the wings are smaller.
“ The young male in the first autumnal plumage is like an old female; but it has no white edges
on the large wing-coverts, which are of a brownish red colour; on the median coverts are only very
narrow white edges which do not form a white spot when the wing is closed.
“ The young female bird in first autumn plumage has scarcely any red colour at all, it being replaced
by light grey, which is faintly shaded with red on the breast.
“ Measurements. Male—length 6 in. 3 - 6 lin., extent 10 in. 5 lib. to IT in .; female—length 6 in.
2 -4 lin., extent 10 in. 4 -5 lin., wing 3 in. 5 lin., tail 2 in. 1 lin, culmen 3 i lin., middle toe 5 i lin.,
tarsus H lin.”
On the eve o f going to press, Captain T . Biddulph kindly forwarded me the accompanying note on the
species:— “ Erythrospiza incarnata was first met with by us (during the Yarkand Expedition) at Jankse,
between Leh and the Pangong lake, in September, in small numbers. I t was observed a t intervals,
generally in pairs, in the Karakash valley; and on our first arrival in the plains of Turkestan, in October, I
saw it in large flocks of several hundreds ; later on I only observed it in smaller numbers.”
The figures in the Plate are of the size of life.