genus Tachyphonus. 65 



may probably arise from the difference of their locality. The black- 

 faced finch of Pennant, said to inhabit Carolina, and the more 

 northern provinces, cannot surely be the same as the Brazilian 

 species. 



It is not without hesitation that I have ventured to remove this 

 bird from the Fringillce of Linnaeus, and to place it in the present 

 group. In so doing, I have been guided by its general habit, 

 which agrees more with Tachyphonus, than with any other defined 

 genus ; the bill, although short and conic, is very much com- 

 pressed, while the margins are inflexed, and very slightly 

 sinuated. 



5. Tachyphonus fringilloides. Sp. Nov. 



T. suprh cfnereus, infrd albem, crista coccinea, marginibus lateralibm nigris / 

 rostro brevi, conico. 



Above cinereous, beneath whitish, crest crimson, the sides black, 

 bill short, conic. 



This beautiful little bird is even smaller than the preceding. 

 The colour of the upper mandible is brown, and that of the under 

 white ; the crest is of a vivid crimson, and the sides margined by 

 a stripe of deep black ; the rest of the upper plumage is cinereous- 

 gray, and this colour tinges the white of the under plumage ; the 

 wings are brown ; the tail black, and very slightly rounded ; 

 tarsi and claws pale. 



Total length 4|, bill ■%% wings 2 T % tail 2-&, tarsi J J. 



I believe this to be a bird of rare occurrence. During a month's 

 encampment on the table land of Bahia, I failed in procuring more 

 than two individuals, both of which were males ; neither am I 

 aware of its having been met with in any other part of Brazil. 

 In the shortness and compression of the bill it agrees with T. 

 rubescens; but the tail, which in that bird is nearly, if not quite, 

 even, in this is more rounded ; the feathers likewise are broader. 

 The margins of the bill are inflexed, but not sinuated; and the 

 acute angle, which constitutes a very prominent character in the 

 Fringillce, is wholly wanting in both these birds. 



Vol. XX. F 



