1071. Carpodacus severtzovi

(1071) Carpodacus severtzovi.

Severtzoff's Rose-Finch.

Carpodacus severtzovi Sharpe, P. Z. S., 1886, p. 354 (Turkestan) ; Blanford & Oates, ii,p. 220.

Vernacular names. Awal-luk-si (Tibet).

Description. - Adult male. Generally speaking very similar to C. r. rubicilloides but much paler; the upper parts are pinky fulvous grey, the crimson of the head paler, more pink and not reaching to the nape; the ear-coverts and sides of the head are pink, not crimson; the lower parts are much paler, a rosy-pink rather than crimson, with much larger pale centres; the white margin to the outermost tail-feathers is broader, often covering the whole of the outer web.

Colours of soft parts as in the preceding bird.

Measurements. Total length about 200 mm.; wing 116 to 122 mm.; tail 85 to 90 mm.; tarsus about 21 to 22 mm.; culmen about 14 mm.

Female. Much paler than C. r. rubicilloides with a fulvous rather than an ashy tinge; the striations above and below paler and more narrow, sometimes hardly visible on the back ; the white margin to the outermost tail-feather is wide.

Distribution. The mountains of Central Asia, North-East Kashmir, Ladakh, Tibet to Mongolia, Chambi Valley, Sikkim.

Nidification. Records of this and of the preceding species have been very much intermixed. There is no doubt, however, that the breeding area of the two overlap, for although all the eggs actually taken in Ladakh have been of rubicilloides, yet this bird also undoubtedly breeds there and from Tibet I have had skins of both species sent me with eggs taken on the same date. The nidification is very similar in the two species, but whereas twigs form the staple material in the nest of rubicilloides, these are hardly used at all by C. severtzovi which restricts itself almost wholly to coarse dry grass. Otherwise the sites selected, the time of breeding and the eggs themselves are identically the same. Eighty eggs average 24.0 x 17.0 mm.: maxima 25.6 X 16.8 and 22.5 x 18.2 mm.; minima 21.9 x 17.1 and 25.0 x 16.7 mm.

Habits. Similar to those of the preceding bird.