Fringilla montifringilla Linnæus, Syst. Nat. ed. 10 (1758),
1, 179; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1888), 12, 178; Oates,
Fauna Brit. Ind. Bds. (1890), 2, 233, fig. 65 (head); McGregor,
Bull. Philippine Mus. (1904), 4, 24; McGregor and Worcester,
Hand-List (1906), 103.
Calayan (McGregor). Europe, northern Asia, Kamchatka, northern
China; in winter to British Islands, Japan, Liu Kiu and Bonin
Islands.
Male in winter.--Head, neck, mantle, and sides of head, of neck, and
of throat black with wide fringes of light buff or ochraceous-buff;
feathers of neck and mantle with gray bases; lower back and rump
white, black along the sides; tail-coverts black, tipped with buff;
chin, middle of throat, fore breast, sides, and flanks orange-buff;
flanks with a few black spots; lower breast and abdomen white; crissum
light buff; feathers of thighs black with buff tips; wing-quills
black; primaries and secondaries narrowly edged with pale yellow;
outer webs of fourth to seventh primaries with a spot of white at
tips of primary-coverts; secondaries with larger white spots nearer
their bases; tertials broadly edged with orange-buff on their outer
webs; scapulars and lesser coverts orange-buff; median coverts white,
some of them washed with buff; greater coverts black with broad buff
tips; rectrices black, edged with ashy gray or pale yellow; outermost
pair with basal half of outer webs white; axillars canary-yellow;
wing-lining and edges of the inner webs of quills white. Iris brown;
bill yellow; its tip dusky; legs light brown, soles pale yellow;
nails dusky. A male from Calayan Island measures: Length, 165; wing,
94; tail, 65; culmen from base, 13; tarsus, 20.
Female in winter.--Not greatly different from the male. A female from
Japan measures: Wing, 85; tail, 58; culmen from base, 13; tarsus, 19.
Male in summer.--"The summer plumage of the male is gradually assumed
by the shedding of the sandy-colored edges, and the bluish ashy
of the hind neck and mantle remains as a spot behind the head, the
feathers of these parts generally showing ashy gray bases throughout
the summer plumage.
"Nestling.--Recalls the plumage of the adult female, but more
tinged with olive, the nape-patch well developed, and the rump-patch
tinged with sulphur-yellow; under surface of body washed with pale
sulphur-yellow, tinged with orange on fore neck, chest, and sides of
body." (Sharpe.)
The brambling as a Philippine species is known only from three winter
specimens collected in Calayan Island.
Genus PASSER Brisson, 1760.
Bill moderately stout, not greatly compressed; culmen straight and
with a decided ridge for its basal half; rounded and gently curved
for its distal half; wing moderate in length, covering less than half
the tail, and its tip not reaching the base of toes. Colors black,
dingy white, rusty brown, and liver-brown.