P Y R R H U L A ERYTHACUS, Bi/th.
PYRRHULA ERITHACUS, Biyth.
Beavan’s Bullfinch.
Pyrrhula erythaca, Myth, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Beng. xxxii. p. 459.—Jerdon, Birds o f India, ii. p. 389 Gray,
Hand-list of Birds, ii. p. 99, no. 7483.—Hume, Stray Feathers, 1874, p. 455.—Dresser, Birds of Europe,
p t. 51, note to P . major.—Hume, Stray Feathers, 1879, p. 108.
Pyrrhula erithacus, Blyth, Ibis, 1862, p. 389.—Id. Ibis, 1863, p. 441, pi. x.—Id. Ibis, 1867, p. 43.—Beavan, Ibis,
1868, p. 177.—Tristram, Ibis, 1871, p. 232.
T h is lovely Bullfinch is one of the rarest of the genus Pyrrhula, and very few specimens exist in collections.
It was discovered by that excellent observer the late Captain Beavan, and was described by Mr. Blyth.
Dr. Jerdon, in the 4 Birds of India,’ calls it the 44 Red-breasted Bullfinch,” an English name which I have
not adopted, as there are other Bullfinches which have red breasts, and for which the term would be more
appropriate; and I follow Mr. Hume in calling the species by the name of its discoverer, who thus
described his meeting with i t :— 441 came across a flock of this new species on my way up Mount Tongloo
in April 1862. There were two males and several females picking about the bushes near the path.
The females all escaped; but I secured both the males, though one was too much damaged to preserve ;
the other I sent to Mr. Blyth, who described it in 4 The Ibis ’ for 1862 (p. 389), and in the following year
furnished its portrait ( 4Ibis,’ 1863, pi. x.j. This was the only occasion on which I observed the species.
The elevation was about 9000 feet.” Neither Captain Elwes nor Mr. Blanford met with the bird during
their journey through Sikhim; and the only other notice of the species occurs in the volume of 4 Stray
4 Feathers ’ for 1874, where Mr. Hume writes :— 44 A specimen of that rare Bullfinch Pyrrhula erythaca has
recently been obtained for me by Mr. Gammie (to whom I have repeatedly owed rare birds and eggs) at
Jo r Bungala, close to Darjeeling, at an elevation of between five and six thousand feet. As far as I know,
this is the first specimen obtained since the late Captain Beavan shot the type on Mount Tongloo. Perhaps
others have been met with ; and if so I should be glad to learn the localities from and dates on which they
were procured.
44 Since this was in type Mr. Mandelli has also kindly sent me a specimen of Beavan’s Bullfinch, procured
in April, also at Sikhim. I t would appear that it is only an occasional migrant to Sikhim (ju st as Syrrhaptes
paradoxus in England) ; for we have for years maintained the keenest watch for this species, and heretofore
without success. Where can the home o f this species be? Swinhoe has not met with it in China, nor any
of the Russians in Siberia, nor our people in Yarkand. However, there is a vast country outside all these
explorations, to which P . erythaca must belong.”
I have nothing to add to the above interesting note of Mr. Hume’s, as in the seutences I have quoted I
believe to be comprised all that we know respecting the species ; and I can only re-echo Mr. Hume’s hope
that more information respecting its habits may soon be forthcoming.
Mr. Blyth’s description of the type is as follows
44 Upper parts pure ashy, like the back of Pyrrhula vulgaris, also the front of the neck, becoming whitish
on the th ro a t; pectoral region bright red, the abdominal pale asby, and the lower tail-coverts white ; a broad
white band on the rump, as in P . vulgaris, above which is a slight black b an d ; and the upper tail-coverts
and tail are rich purple-black, the middle tail-feathers being f inch shorter than the outermost; a black
ring encircles the bill, and spreads over the' loral region, this ring being bordered and set off with white;
wings black, except the smallest coverts, which are grey, and a brownish grey band (£ inch broad) tipping
the greater coverts ; no red mark on the tertiaries. Bill black and feet pale. Length of wing 3 f inches,
and of tail 3 inches.”
The Plate represents two adult, males and an old female, all of the natural size.