334 FRINGILLIDA. 
Fam. FRINGILLIDA*. 
PHEUCTICUS. 
Pheucticus, Reichenbach, Av. Syst. t. lxxviii. (1850). 
We are now acquainted with six species of this purely Neotropical genus, two 
of which come within our limits, neither of them passing beyond. The range of 
P. chrysopeplus is restricted to Western Mexico, and that of P. tibialis to Costa Rica 
and the adjoining part of the State of Panama. The four southern species are all 
Andean, P. chrysogaster being also found in Venezuela. 
The species of Pheucticus may readily be distinguished, so far as the males are 
concerned, by the following characters f :— 
A. Capite summo flavo aut flavido. 
a. Cauda albo terminata: 
minor. . - 1. ee ee ee we ew ee dL chrysogaster. 
major, rostro validissimo . . 2. chrysopeplus. 
b. Cauda omnino nigra. . . . . 1 ee ee ew we ee Be htbialis. 
B. Capite summo nigro dorso concolore. 
c. Uropygionigro. . 2. 2. 1 ee ee ee ew ew ee A aureiventris. 
d. Uropygio flavo nigro variegato : 
gutturenigro . . 1 ee eee ee ee ee ee BL uropygialis. 
gutture flavo. © 6. 1 6 1 ee ee eee ew ee 6. hemichrysus. + 
In Pheucticus the beak is more fully developed than in any other American genus 
of Fringillide, except perhaps Coccothraustes and some species of Oryzoborus. The 
culmen is high andjthe round nostrils exposed ; the commissure of the maxilla is abruptly 
angular, and the mandible very strongly developed; the rictal bristles are short, but 
stout. The wings are moderately long, the second, third, and fourth primaries being 
the longest, the first and fifth nearly equalling them; the tail is long, and but slightly 
rounded; the tarsi and toes are short and the claws rather feeble, indicating a strictly 
arboreal habit ; the general colours of the plumage throughout the genus are black and 
yellow, and there is considerable diversity between the sexes, at least in some members. 
* Any thing like a satisfactory classification of the Fringillide remains yet to be accomplished; and as the 
family is represented over nearly the whole world, it is evident that no arrangement that did not embrace all 
the genera should be attempted. Prof. Baird, in ‘The History of North-American Birds,’ expressed his 
inability to define satisfactorily the limits of the subfamilies of the North-American Fringillide owing to the 
difficulty of drawing the lines of difference with precision, but he adopts five subfamilies, and proceeds to 
arrange the genera under these heads. A somewhat similar plan had been employed by Mr. Sclater in his 
‘Catalogue of American Birds ;’ and by Salvin in his ‘ Catalogue of the Strickland Collection ;’ but in view of 
the trivial and variable character of the definitions of the subfamilies, we here adopt the plan of the ‘ Nomen- 
clator Avium Neotropicalium,’ and simply place the genera seriatim in what appears to be their most natural 
order without attempting to define any larger divisions. 
+ Guiraca magnirostris, Bp. P. Z. 8. 1837, p. 120=Pheucticus bonapartii, Salvad. Att. R. Acc. Sc. Tor. iv. 
p. 178, is unknown to us. 
