OCR Text |
Show 300 AVES. edged with white; whitish underneath; a fine red on the head and breast of the old male; beak, grey. Builds among the vines, bushes, &c. . An intermediate species, most nearly alhed however to the second, Fting. nwntium, Gm., Naum. 122, is occasionally seen from the North. Its beak is yellow, and there is some red on the rump of the male. . . There are other species, more or less greemsh, wh1ch are called by the French Serins or Tarins. The Fring. spinus, L.; Tarin commun; Enl. 485, 3; Naum. 125. (The Siskin.) Also has a beak ~ore like that of the Go~dfinch, and is even similar in many pomts to the Redpoll. It 1s of an olive colour above; yellow beneath; calotte, wings and tail, black; two yellow bands on the wing. It builds on the very summits of the tallest pines. The other species have the shorter beak of the Linnet. Fring. citr·inella,'L.; Le Venturon; Enl. 658, 2; Vieill. Gal. 62; Naum. 124, s, 4. Olive above; yellowish beneath; back of the head and neck ash coloured. Fring. serinus, L.; Le Cini; Enl. 658, 1; Naum. 123. Olive above; yellowish beneath; spotted with brown; a yellow band on the wing. Two birds from the mountains of the south of Europe, about the size of the Fr. spinus. Fring. canaria, L. Enl. 202, 1. (The Canat·y Bird.) Is larger, and the facility with which it breeds, in a state of confinement, together with its melodious and powerful song, have dissemi· nated it every where, and caused it to vary so much in colour, that it is difficult to ascet·tain its origin:1l hue. It mixes with ~nost of the other species of this genus.( 1) (1) Among the birds foreign to Europe, which cannot be distinguished from the Linnets by any generic character, we place, Fring. lepida;-Fr. tristis, En!. 202, 2;-Fr. ictera, Enl. 364;-Fr. nitens, Enl. 224;-F. senegal/a, Vaill. Ois. ch. pl. ix;-F. amandava, Enl. 115, 2 a.nd 3;-F. granatina, Enl. 109, 3;-F. bengalus;F. angolensis, Enl. 115, 1 ;-Carduelis cucullata, Swains. Zool. Ill. There are ~ther species also, called astrils, beng alis and senegallis, in the work of Vieillot, entttled Ois. chant. de la zone tort·ide, such as the Fr. bicolor, pl. ix;-Fr. tricolor, pl. :u:;cinerea, 6;-cwuie.sce.ns, 8;-melpoda, 7 ;--1Jiridis, 4;-erytltronofos, 14;-quinticolor, 15;-rubriventris, 13;-frontalis or Lux. frontalis, L. 16;-F. guttata, 3;-add Fring. melanotis, Temm. Col. 151, 1 ;-Fr. sanguirwlenta, lb. 2;-Fr. polyzona, lb. 3;-Fr. otoleucus, Tern. Col. 269, 2, 3;-Fr. simplex, Lichtenst. Col. 358;-F~. luiea, Col. 365;-Fr. ornata, Pr. Max. Col. 208. The pretended Emberiza oryz~· vora, Enl. 388, has also the same beak; but the stiff and pointed quills of the tJJI distinguish it. See also the numerous Finches described by M. Ch. Bonaparte, Ann. of :Nell' York Lye. II, December 1826, p. 106, et seq. [See .!Jpp. XXI of /lm. Ed.] · PASSERINlE. 301 VmuA, Cuv.(l) The Widows, as they are termed, are birds of Africa an'd India, which have the beak of a Linnet, sometimes slightly inflated at the base, and distinguished by having some of the quills of the tail, or ofits upper coverts, excessively elongated in the males.(2) There is .a gradual transition, and without any assignable interval, from the Lmnets to,(3) CoooOTHRAUSTEs, Cuv. Or the Grosbeaks, whose exactly conical beak is only distinguished by its excessive size. Loxia coccothraustes, L., Enl. 99 and loo; Naum. 114. (The Common Grosbeak.) Is one of those that are most truly worthy of the name. Its enormous beak is yellowish; back and calotte brown; rest of the plumage greyish; throat and quills of the wings, black; a white band on the wings. It inhabits the moun- (1) It is not easy to see why Linn~us and Gmelin arranged them with the Buntings, by the names of Emberiza regia, (Enl. 8, 1);-Emb. serena, (Ib., 2);-Emb. paradiaea (Enl. 194);-Emb. panayensi:J (Enl. 647);-Emb. longicauda (Enl. 635). Add, Fringilfa auperciliosa, Vieill. Gal. 61. If we do not leave the Widows with the Linnets, there is no other place for them except among the Grosbeaks. (2) In the Veuve a epaulettes ( V. longicauda) the coverts only are elongated; in ~others, it is the quills. N.n. The Emb. principalia, (Edw. 270) and the Emb. cldua (Aldrow. Orni. II, 565) appear to me to be the same bird in different states ofplumage. The Emb. psittacea, Seb. I, pl.lxvi, fig. 5, is not very authentic. The llfiKQ/tmis, Salern. Orni. 277; the Veuve chrysoptere, Vieill. Ois. ch. pl. xli, and the LJ:. macroura, Enl. 283, 1, which, perhaps, do not differfrom·it, are not Widows, but common Grosbeaks. (3) This transition is effected, in the species I h:we been able to examine, in t~e following order, the beak always increasing in size: Loxia quadricolor, (Ember., Lin.) 101, 2, the same as the Gros bee longicone, Tern. Col. ;-L. sanguinirostria, Eni.I83, '2;-L. 'f!U)lucca, Enl. 139, 2;-L. variegata, Vieill. 51;-L. punctulata, lb.l;-L. maja, Enl. 109, 1;-L. striata, Enl. 153, 1;-L. nitida, Vieill. 50;-L. malaeca, Enl. 139, 3;-L. astrild., Enl. 157, 2;-L. bella, Vieill. 55;-L. C(Ynatana, Id. 57;-L oryzivora, Enl. 152, 1;-L. fuscata, Vieill. pl.lxii;-L. atricapilla, Id., 53;-L. nigra, Catesb. 1, 68; Vieill. Gal. 57;-L. brasiliana, Enl. 309, 1;-L. pelronia (Fring. petronia, L.) Enl. 255 ;-L. cltloris, Enl. 267, 2;-L. lumnatina, Vieill. pl. lxvii, where the beak is too slender; L. gttttata, Id. 68, is a variety of the same;-£. quinticolor, Id. 54;-L. fasciata, Brown, 111., xxvii;-L. maduglU· ~. Enl. 143, 2;-L. caJrulea;-L. cardinalia, Enl. 37;-L. melanura,·-L. to««lrrauates, Enl. 89 and 100;-L. ostrina, Vieill. Ois. ch. 48, Gal. 60;-L. roaea, Vieill., pl. lxiii. Add, L. veapertina, Bonap. II, pl. xiv, f. 1;-L. ludoviciana, Wils. II, pJ. xvii, f. 1~!-L. cterulea~ Wils., III, pl. xxiv, f, vl;-L. purpurea, Wils. I, pl. vii, f. 4. <~m. Edit. |