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Show BIRDS. 10.) frequent resort is the Opuntia Galapageia, about the fleshy leaves of which they bop and c1imb, even with their back downwards, whilst feeding with their sharp beaks, both on the fruit and flowers. Often, however, they alight on the ground, and mingled with the flock of the above mentioned species, they search for seeds in the parched volcanic soil. The extreme scarceness of the jet-black specimens, which I mentioned under the head of the genus Geospiza, is well exemplified in the case of the C. scandens, for although I daily saw many brown-coloured ones, (and two collectors were looking out for them), only one, besides that which is figured, was procured, and I did not see a second. 2. CACTORNIS ASSIMILIS. Gould. PLATE XLIII. TISSERIN DES G.ALLAPAoos, (ile St. Charles,) NeboWJ, Revue Zoologique, 1840, p. 291. C. Mas (jun ?) c01pore supra fuliginoso, (gutture abdomineque exceptis,) cinereo marginatis; rost1·o pallide rufescenti-brunneo; pedihus nigrescenti-hrunneis. Long. tot. 5-} unc.; roatri, i ; alaJ, 2~; oaudw, lf; tarsi, f. Upper surface of the body sooty black, margined with cinereous, as well as the throat and abdomen; the bill pale rufous brown; the feet blackish brown. Habitat, Galapagos Archipelago. I do not know from which island of the group this species was procured; almost certainly not from James Island. Analogy would in this case, as in that of CamarltyncllUs crassirostn's, lead to the belief that the old male would be jet black. By a mistake this bird has been figured standing on the OpuntiaDarwini£, a plant from Patagonia, instead of the 0. Galapagez·a. I may here mention that a third and well characterized species of Cactornis has lately been sent by Captain Belcher, R.N. to the Zoological Society; as Capt. Belcher visited Cocos Island, which is the nearest land to the Galapagos Archipelago, being less than 400 miles distant, it is very probable that the species came thence. Sun-GENus.-CERTHIDEA. Gould. CERTHIDEA dijf'ert t~ rrenere GEOSPIZA rost1'o graciliore et acuti01·e; narihus basalibus et non tee tis; mandfbulaJ superioris margine 1·ecto; tarsis longiorihus et gracilioribus. Of the foregoing sub-genera, Geospiza, Camarhynchus and Cactornis b~long t.o one type, but with regard to Certhidea, although Mr. Gould confidently beheves Jt should also be referred to the same division, yet as in its slighter form and weaker hill, it has so much the appearance of a member of the Sylviadce, he would by no means insist upon the above view being adopted, until the matter shall have heen more fuJiy investigated. p |
