URAGUS SIBIRICUS.

Siberian Grosbeak.

Lowxia sibirica, Pallas, Reis. Russischen Reichs, Theil ii. Anhang, p- 711, no. 24 (1773).

Siberian Grosbeak, Latham, Gen. Syn. Birds, ii. pt. i. p. 124 (1783).

Pyrrhula caudata, Pall. Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat. ii. p: 10) pk S7 (isin:

Pyrrhula longicauda, Temm. Man. d’Orn. i. p- 340 (1820).

Corythus longicauda, Gould, B. of Kurope, ili. p. 205 (1837).

Corythus sibiricus, Bp. Comp. List Birds Eur. & N. Amer. p- 38 (1838).

Uragus sibirica, Keys. & Blas. Wirb. Eur. p. xl. (1840).

Uragus sibiricus, Gray, Gen. of Birds, ii. p. 387 (1844).—Bonap. & Schlegel, Mon. des Loxiens, p- 30, pls. 34,
35 (1850).—Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av. i. p. 529 (1850).—Gray, Handl. B. ii. p. 102, no. 7529 (1870).—
Swinh. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1871, p. 387.—Severtzow, Turkest. Jevotn. p. 64 (1873).—Dresser, Ibis, 1875,
p- 245.—Taczan. Bull. Soc. Zool. France, i. p. 182 (1876).—David & Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 357 (1877).—
Prjev. in Dawson Rowley’s Orn. Mise. ii. p. 304 (1877).—Seebohm, Ibis, 1880, p. 187.

Erythrothorax caudatus, Brehm, Naumannia, 1855, p. 276, note.

Pyrrhula (Uragus) sibirica, Schrenck, Reisen im Amur-Lande, p. 290 (1859).—Radde, Reisen Sibirien, p. 18]
(1863).

 

Tue Siberian Grosbeak was for a long time considered a European bird, and was figured by me forty
years ago in my ‘Birds of Europe.” The authority for this appears to have been the late Mr. Temminck,
who, in his ‘Manuel,’ gave it as a migrant to Southern Russia, and said that it passed into Hungary.
There can be no doubt, however, that this statement is entirely erroneous ; and in all recent works on
European ornithology the species has been very properly omitted from the list.

Pallas, the discoverer of the species, found it abundant in the poplar-woods shading the banks of the
torrents on the Altai, and in the whole of Eastern Siberia. In winter it wanders about in small bands in
the tufty bushes. It feeds on seeds of every kind of plant, principally those of Artemisia integrifolia,
the cinquefoils, and Composite, in which the flora of Siberia is so rich. — Its note is like that of the common
Linnet. Mr. Seebohm has received specimens from the neighbourhood of Kras-no-yarsk ; and he says
that Dr. Theél obtained it at Yen-e-saisk. It is also said by Dr. Severtzow to be a winter visitant to
Turkestan, in which district it breeds. Dr. Radde procured the Siberian Grosbeak in most places where
he collected in Eastern Siberia; and it is very common there, according to Dr. Dybowski. Radde would
unite with the present bird the Japanese Uragus sanguinolentus, which Prjevalski found resident in Manchuria,
along with U. sibiricus ; and it is certain that the Japanese bird is also found on the coast of Siberia,
as Mr. Janskowski has procured it on the island of Askold ; but it is not certain whether U. sanguinolentus

migrates into China, as is the case with U. sibiricus. Abbé David states that he has seen the present

species many times in winter in the neighbourhood of Pekin, where he killed a fine female on the 11th of

April, from which it would appear that some individuals remained after the departure of the cold season.
Colonel Prjevalski, in his notes on the Birds of Mongolia, observes that this species came under his
observation only in the Guchin-gurb bills, north of Dolan-nor, late in March and early in April, in pairs
and small flocks, in the bushes overgrown with weeds and long grass.

The following is a translation of the descriptions given by Bonaparte and Schlegel in their Monograph :—

« 4dult male. Forehead and lores dark carmine red; upper surface of the bead, cheeks, and throat of a
lustrous whitish rose-colour, more or less washed with greyish on the top of the head; feathers of the
mantle and scapulars of a greyish colour more or less washed with carmine rose, and having in the centre
of each a longitudinal streak more or less dark, or even blackish. Rump, lesser wing-coverts, breast, and
belly rose-coloured more or less tinged with carmine. Quills black, with a white edging; the inner
secondaries with very broad white edges. Greater and median wing-coverts for the most part pure white,
but black towards their base. The three central lines of tail-feathers black, the three outer pairs white, with
black shafts, and having their inner webs bordered with black, which is broad on the fourth pair, but hardly
perceptible on the outer pair; lower wing-coverts of the male white, washed with rose-colour on the smaller
coverts; the red tints of the males often show very perceptible shades in different individuals, so that, while
some are decidedly pale, others have this colour more or less brilliant. According to Pallas these are the
examples from Dauria, which have much less brilliant colours than those which inhabit the banks of the
Yen-e-say, while those from the Altai are recognized by their dull coloration.

< The female is distinguished from the male by the ground-colour of its plumage, which is of a yellowish
grey, clearer above, and inclining to white on the hinder parts of the body. Pallas states that these colours
show sometimes slightly pronounced shades of red.”

The figures in the Plate represent two males and a female, of about the natural size, and are drawn from

specimens In my own collection.

[R. B. S.]