326 Swainson's Birds of Western Africa, 



been able to accomplish without injuring the bill. The sharp tooth at the 

 base of the upper mandible is, no doubt, highly useful in this operation, 

 probably performing the office of a canine tooth by making a first indent- 

 ation in the nut, whereby to procure a hold upon it ; the injuries to the bill 

 are also more conspicuous close to this tooth than further towards the 

 tip. 



" The form of this bird constitutes its sub-generic character. The bill 

 resembles a perfect cone, the sides of which are quite straight, and in no- 

 wise curved outwards. The upper mandible does not project at its tip 

 beyond the under ; it is quite entire, excepting a short and rather acute 

 tooth-like process close to its base, while the commissure or line formed 

 by the joining of the two mandibles is nearly straight ; the nostrils are 

 vertical, pierced behind the substance of the bill, but completely covered 

 with the frontal feathers, thus very much resembling those of the toucans. 

 The wings are rather short and much rounded; the first quill is short, 

 narrow, and spurious, about six-tenths of an inch in length ; the second is 

 half an inch snorter than the third, and this latter is equally long with the 

 fourth and fifth. The feet, without being robust, are large and slender ; 

 the middle toe very long, and exceeds, with its claw, the length of the tar- 

 sus ,• the hind-claw is as long as its toe, as in many of the scansorial birds, 

 and only falls short of the tarsus by about the tenth of an inch. The tail 

 is broad and much rounded. 



" The colouring of the plumage is rich and yet simple. The feathers of 

 the whole head, neck, breast, upper tail-covers, and half way down the 

 flanks, are of a bright crimson, and appear glossy, as if polished, but with- 

 out any coloured reflections. The tail is of a dull red, but the inner half 

 of the lateral feathers are black ; the quills are nearly so. All the rest of 

 the plumage is a deep uniform sepia brown. Bill, deep black ; legs, brown ; 

 claws, long, slender, and but little curved. 



" Total length, 5f inches ; bill from the gape, -^ ; wings, 2-^ ; tail be- 

 yond, 1£; from the base, 2|; tarsus, f." 



Our author takes this opportunity of giving his readers a 

 brief exposition of the principles of quinary classification : — 



" If, as naturalists conceive, the typical character of the finches is in the 

 strength and conic form of the bill, then the bird before us, possessing 

 both in the most eminent degree of perfection {fig. !.)» must stand at the 



head of the entire family. And this is the view we have taken of its sta- 

 tion, resulting from the analysis of that division of the finches to which it 

 unquestionably belongs. Of all the forms in other countries we yet know of, 

 it comes nearest to the South American hard-bills, forming the subgenus 

 Coccoborus ; while, on the other hand, there can be no question, we think, 

 of its close relationship to the subgenus Dertroides : from this we pass to 



