374 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF 



This great accession of new material in all departments of Ornithology, has^ 

 of course, proportionally increased our knowledge of the birds of North America, 

 both as regards the number of species inhabiting the continent, and their geo- 

 graphical distribution; and has furnished the means of making many additions, 

 and some corrections, to the General Report. But, perhaps, to no single group 

 of birds have there been so many added, as to that one to which it is proposed to 

 devote a few pages. 



At the time of the writing of the article on Mgiothus, in the General Report, 

 there were but eight specimens of the genus in the collection, and those repre- 

 senting but a single species. The series of JEgiothi, from an examination of 

 which the present paper was prepared, consists of more than one hundred spe- 

 cimens, from very various localities in America, Europe and Greenland, and 

 comprises all the known species, except A. rvfescens and Holbolli, and is, more- 

 over, particularly rich in the species described here for the first time. The very 

 large series of Mgiothus exilipes were mostly procured by Messrs. Robert Ken- 

 nicott and Bernard R. Ross, though some were received from Donald Gunn, 

 Esq. The series of A. fuscescens were mostly obtained by ourselves in Labra- 

 dor. The specimens upon which the A. rostratus is founded were kindly fur- 

 nished for examination by the Copenhagen Museum, which also supplied the 

 examples of A. eanescens, and of the European type of A. Unarms. 



The above remarks seem necessary to prevent the doubt that might otherwise 

 very naturally arise, that at this late date there could remain undescribed three 

 species of so well known a genus as the present. We may be allowed to add, 

 that we have formed our opinions only after long study and deliberation, as 

 well as consultation with several very eminent ornithologists. 



Though the four described species of Mgiothus are well known, the synonymy 

 of some of them is in a state of considerable confusion. For this reason, and 

 for the sake of showing more clearly the relationships of the new species, it has 

 been deemed advisable to present a complete monograph of the genus. 



MGIOTHUS Cabanis. 



Fringilla sp. Linnseus, 1766, et auct. antiq. 



Passer sp. Pallas, 1811, nee auct. 



Spinas p. Koch, nee Boie, 1826. 



Linota p. Bonaparte, 1838. 



Linaria, Cuvier, 1817, nee Bechst., 1802, cujus typus Fring. cannabina Linn. : 



nee Linaria Tourn. quae' plant, gen. 

 Acanthis, Bonaparte, 1850 ; nee Bechst. 1802, cujus typus Fring- carduelis Linn. ; 

 nee Meyer, 1822, (typus idem): nee Keys, et Bias. 1840, cujus typus Fring. 

 spinus Linn. 

 jEgiothus, Cabanis, Mus. Hein. 1851, 161. Tvpus Fring. linarius Linn., Baird. 



Gen. Rep. 1858, 428. 

 Linacanthis, Des Murs. 1853, fide G. R. Gray. 



Char. gen. Rostrum parvum, breve, rectum, plus minus compressum et acu- 

 tum, basi plumulis rigidis, recumbentibus, nares rotundas occultantibus tectum. 

 Alae longissimce,remigibus primis tribus fere inter se tequalibus. Cauda elon- 

 o-ata, valde forficata, rectricibus latis, rotundatis. Pedes breves, debiles, digito 

 medio sine ungue tarso multo breviore, digitis lateralibus fere inter se ajquali- 

 bus, halluce ungue breviore. Ungues elongati, compressi, incurvati, acutissimi. 



Mas et fern, omni temp, pileo rubro induti ; mas nupt. temp, pectore uropy- 

 gioque roseo vel carmesino tinctis. 



The genus which occupies our attention at present is one of the most dis- 

 tinct and easily recognizable of the Fringillidaj. Its essential characters lie in 

 the small, more or less compressed and acute bill, covered at the base with re- 

 curved plumuli, so long and dense as to completely hide the nostrils ; in the 

 long wings; in the rather long deeply forked tail; and in the weak feet with 

 their very short toes. The pattern of coloration also seems, in this instance, to 

 be a generic character, being precisely the same in all the known species of 



[Nov. 



