The Indian grosbeaks are birds of limited distribution; they appear to be confined to the forests on the higher ranges of the Himalayas. Their most striking feature is the stout conical bill, which is an exaggeration of that of the typical finch, and is responsible for the bird's name. In one genus of grosbeak--_Mycerobas_--the bill is as deep as it is long, while in the other genus--_Pycnorhamphus_--it is nearly as massive. Three species belonging to this latter genus occur in India, namely, _P. icteroides_, the black-and-yellow grosbeak, found in the Western Himalayas; _P. affinis_, the allied grosbeak, found in Nepal, Sikkim, Tibet, and Western China; and _P. carneipes_, the white-winged grosbeak, which occurs all along the higher Himalayas. There is only one Indian species of the other genus; this is known as the spotted-winged grosbeak (_Mycerobas melanoxanthus_), the localities in which this occurs are said to be "the Himalayas from the Hazara country to Sikkim at considerable elevations and Manipur." The only Indian grosbeak which I have met in the flesh is the yellow-and-black species. This bird is common in the hills round about Murree, so that, when on ten days' leave there, I had some opportunity of studying its habits. It is a bird of the same size as the Indian oriole (_Oriolus kundoo_). The cock grosbeak, indeed, bears a striking resemblance to the black-headed oriole (_Oriolus melanocephalus_). His whole head, chin, throat, wings, shoulders, upper-tail-coverts, and thighs are black, the remainder of the plumage is a rich yellow, tinged with orange at the hind neck. Thus the colour and markings are almost identical with those of the black-headed oriole, the chief difference being that the latter has a little yellow in the wing. So great is the resemblance that the casual observer will, in nine cases out of ten, mistake the grosbeak for an oriole. The resemblance extends to size and shape, as the following table shows: Length Length Length Length Length of Bird. of Tail. of Wing. of Tarsus. of Beak. Grosbeak . . 9.0 in. 3.7 in. 5.2 in. 1.0 in. 1.0 in. Oriole . . . 9.5 " 3.4 " 5.4 " 1.0 " 1.3 " The hen grosbeak differs considerably in colour and marking both from the cock of her species and from the hen black-headed oriole. She is a dull ashy-grey bird, tinged faintly with yellowish red on the back and abdomen. Her wings and tail are black. The only young grosbeak that I have seen resembled the female in appearance, except that it had a yellow rump. It was being fed by a cock bird.