AVIS-IBIS

Birds of Indian Subcontinent

785. Montifringilla adamsi

785. Montifringilla adamsi.

Adams's Mountain-Finch.

Montifringilla adamsi, Moore, Adams, P. Z. S. 1858, p. 482, 1859, p. 178, pl. 156; Hume & Henders. Lah. to Yark. p. 262; Hume, N. & E. p. 473; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xxxvii, pt. ii, p. 62; id. S. F. ii, p. 463, iii, p. 220; Scully, S. F. iv, p. 172 ; Hume, Cat. no. 752 ter; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xii, p. 261 ; Oates in Hume's N. & E. 2nd ed. ii, p. 165.

Coloration. The whole upper plumage brown, the feathers of the back with a broad median darker brown streak ; upper tail-coverts with the outer webs whitish, the inner brown ; middle tail-feathers black with fulvous edges; the next black at base of inner web and at tip of both webs, white elsewhere; the others white with black tips; lesser and median wing-coverts and tertiaries brown ; greater coverts dark brown, broadly tipped white ; primary-coverts white, tipped brown; primaries blackish, edged with fulvous; secondaries brown, with a large amount of white near the tips ; the sides of the head and neck and the whole lower plumage pale fulvous-white; under wing-coverts and axillaries pure white.

In spring and summer the plumage is much worn down and consequently duller, but no other change takes place. The sexes appear to be alike.

Legs, feet, and claws black; iris brown; bill black in summer, orange-yellow, dusky on culmen and brown at tip, in winter (Hume).

Length nearly 7 ; tail 2.7 ; wing 4.3; tarsus .8 ; bill from gape .65.

Distribution. The higher regions of the Himalayas beyond the first snowy range. On the east this species occurs as far as Sikhim according to Hume, and on the west it is met with over the greater part of the north and east of Kashmir, Ladak, Kulu, &c. It has also been met with near Gilgit, and it extends to Kashgarh and Tibet. This species appears to bo found between 11,000 and 14,000 feet in summer.

According to Adams this species breeds in Ladak and Little Tibet, constructing its nest in the long dykes built by the Tartars over their dead.

BookTitle: 
The Fauna Of British India including Ceylon and Burma
Reference: 
OATES EW. The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Vol.2 1890.
Title in Book: 
785. Montifringilla adamsi
Book Author: 
Eugene William Oates, Edited by William Thomas Blanford
CatNo: 
785
Year: 
1890
Page No: 
259
Common name: 
Adamss Mountain Finch
M_ID: 
29458
M_CN: 
Tibetan Snowfinch
M_SN: 
Montifringilla adamsi
Volume: 
Vol. 2
id: 
1083

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