Pink-tailed Rosefinch

Urocynchramus pylzowi (Domaniewski, 1918)

		male
2018-07-09 西宁	© Annie

Description

Przewalski's finch is a small bird similar in appearance to the long-tailed rosefinch. The tail is long and – quite unlike in typical finches – graduated, with the outer feathers much shorter than the central ones. The sexes are sexually dimorphic, with the males having bright pink on the throat, breast and belly. Both sexes have brown streaked plumage on the back and wings. The bill is thinner than those of the rosefinches. The morphological feature which is diagnostic for the Urocynchramidae is the outer primary; in finches and buntings this feather is vestigial but in the Przewalski's finch it is two-thirds the length of the next primary.

Distribution

C & S China (E Qinghai and SW Gansu S to E Xizang and W Sichuan).

Biology

This bird lives at elevations between 3,050 and 5,000 metres (10,010 and 16,400 ft), usually in pairs during the breeding season and in small flocks during the winter. Przhevalsky described the species' song as similar to that of buntings.

References