Scarlet finch

{{Short description|Species of bird}}

{{speciesbox

| name = Scarlet finch

| image=Scarlet Finch (23870224557).jpg

| image_caption = Male in Uttarakhand, India

| status = LC

| status_system = IUCN3.1

| status_ref = {{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2016 |title=Carpodacus sipahi |volume=2016 |page=e.T22720635A94676340 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22720635A94676340.en |access-date=12 November 2021}}

| genus = Carpodacus

| species = sipahi

| authority = (Hodgson, 1836)

| range_map = Distribution map of Carpodacus sipahi.jpg

| range_map_caption = Distribution map of the Scarlet finch

| synonyms = Haematospiza sipahi
Erythrina sipahi }}

The scarlet finch (Carpodacus sipahi) is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae.

It is found in the Himalayas from Uttarakhand state in the Indian Himalayas eastwards across Nepal, stretching further east to the adjacent hills of Northeast India and Southeast Asia as far south as Thailand. It is resident in the Himalayas, but many birds winter to the immediate south.{{cite book | last1 = Clement | first1 = Peter | last2 = Harris | first2 = Alan | last3 = Davis | first3 = John | title = Finches and Sparrows | publisher = Princeton University Press | year = 1993 | location = Princeton, New Jersey | page = 100 | isbn = 0-691-03424-9}} Its natural habitat is temperate forests.

It was described by the British naturalist Brian Houghton Hodgson in 1836 under the binomial name Corythus sipahi.{{cite journal | last=Hodgson | first=Brian Houghton | year=1836 | title=Notices of the ornithology of Nepal: New species of the thick billed finches | journal=Asiatic Researches | volume=19 | page=151 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/43118044 }} The species name sipahi comes from the Hindustani word sipāhi for a soldier or the Anglicised form sepoy, for the red uniform worn by those in the employment of the East India Company.{{cite book | last= Jobling | first= James A. | year= 2010| title= The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | url= https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling |publisher = Christopher Helm | location = London | isbn = 978-1-4081-2501-4 | page=[https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n357 357] }}

The scarlet finch was formerly placed in the monotypic genus Haematospiza but was moved to the rosefinch genus Carpodacus based on the results of molecular phylogenetic studies.{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | title=Finches, euphonias | work= World Bird List Version 5.2| url=http://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/finches/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union| access-date=5 June 2015 }}{{cite journal | last1=Zuccon | first1=Dario | last2=Prŷs-Jones | first2=Robert | last3=Rasmussen | first3=Pamela C. | last4=Ericson | first4=Per G.P. | year=2012 | title=The phylogenetic relationships and generic limits of finches (Fringillidae) | journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution | volume=62 | issue=2 | pages=581–596 | doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2011.10.002 | url=http://www.nrm.se/download/18.9ff3752132fdaeccb6800010935/Zuccon%20et%20al%202012.pdf | pmid=22023825}}