(1112) Montifringilla taczanowskii.
Mandelli's Snow-Finch.
Onychospiza taczanowskii Prjevalsky, Mong. i Strana. Tangut., ii, p. 81 (1876) (River Tetunga, N. Tibet).
Vernacular names. Go-pang (Tibet).
Description. Lores black; forehead white ; a broad but ill-defined supercilium pale ashy-while, meeting an indistinct collar of the same on the hind neck; upper plumage sandy or ashy-brown, the back and scapulars streaked with darker brown and fulvous-white on the outer webs of the feathers ; rump white ; upper tail-coverts pale fulvous-brown; tail blackish brown, the centre feathers paler, all tipped white, increasing in extent outwardly until half the feather is white; wing-coverts brown, broadly tipped with white; quills brown, tipped with white and sub-tipped darker brown ; first primary with white outer web, second to fourth with no white on outer web, inner primaries with basal half nearly all white on both webs; cheeks mixed fulvous and brown; ear-coverts pale sandy-brown ; remainder of lower plumage ashy-white, purer on chin, throat and centre of abdomen.
Colours of soft parts. Iris yellowish-brown to light brown; bill horny-white, tipped darker ; legs and feet black.
Measurements. Wing 101 to 109 mm.; tail 68 to 73 mm.: tarsus about 22 mm.; culmen about 14 to 15 mm.
Distribution. Tibet, Sikkim to Kansu.
The name now used antedates Hume's mandellii by a few mouths and must be adopted.
Nidification. Similar to that of the preceding birds. A nest taken by Captain Steen was placed about two feet down the burrow of a mouse-hare and the four eggs it contained measured from 21.6 x 15.0 to 24.1 x 17.1 mm. It was taken on the 19th June near Gyantse at an elevation of some 12,000 feet.
Habits. So far as is known, similar to those of the Common Tibetan Snow-Finch.
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