544 BIRDS OF THE GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO— BIDGWAY. volxix. 



The type li<i> the mandible dusky, thoniih not so dark as the maxilhi, 

 the color approaching' more nearly a dusky horn gray. In the other 

 four adult males, however, the bill is lighter colored, the maxilla being- 

 dusky brown and the mandible varying from yellowish born color to 

 light yellow. 



Genus CAM ARH YNCHUS, Gould. 



Camarhifiichiia, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc, ]'t. v, 1837, p. G. Type, C. pnHtacula, 

 Uould. 



Generic characters. — JJill short, dee]), and broad, long, narrow and 

 compressed, or variously intermediate between these extremes, but the 

 culmen always distinctly curved and the maxilla at least as deep as the 

 mandible, with its tomium varying from nearly straight {C. psittaculu.s, 

 etc.) to strongly augulated (C. raricgatxs). Nostril very small, circular 

 or oval, exi)osed. Kictal bristles obsolete. Wing about three times as 

 long as tarsus, rounded (first quill equal to or longer than sixth); pri- 

 maries exceeding secondaries by more than length of maxilla from 

 nostril. Tail not juore than twice as long as tarsus, slightly rounded. 

 Middle toe with claw nearly as long as tarsus. Coloration: Above 

 nearly i)lain olivaceous; beneath dull whitish or pale buff- yellowish, 

 with or without darker streaks on chest, etc., the adult males of some 

 species with head, neck, and chest blackish. 



Range. — Peculiar to the Galapagos Archipelago. 



This genus comes very near to Oeospiza, from which it differs chiefly 

 in the form of the bill, which is more compressed, has the culmen (in 

 most species) far more convex, and the gonydeal angle much more 

 prominent. The commissure is also straighter, except in G. varicfjatus, 

 which species very nearly obliterates the gap between typical Gama- 

 rhynchiis and such tumid-billed Geospizce as G. dubia. G. varicgatus, in 

 fact, represents one extreme of a nearly unbroken transitional series, 

 the opposite extreme of which is represented by G.paUidun. The latter 

 was originally referred to " Gactornis,^^ and has been allowed to remain 

 in that so-called genus; but the transition in the form of the bill from 

 G. paUidns to G. psittaculus through such intermediate species as G.pro- 

 dnctit.s and G. compressirostris is so nearly comi)lete, the i)lumage being 

 at the same time identical, that I am disposed to refer this long-billed 

 species to GamarluinchuH rather than to make a new genus for its recep- 

 tion, together with the related G. producius. Certainly these two species 

 do not belong to Gactornia, which is to Geospiza exactly what G. palliduH 

 and G. productus are to true Gamarhynchus. In case it be deemed expe- 

 dient to make a new genns for (\ palUdus and G. prodncius^ it will then 

 be quite necessary to make another one for G. variegatus, between 

 which and any other species of the group (except jierhaps G. crassi- 

 7'Ofitris, (lould. which I have not seen) there is a more definite break than 

 between any of those wliich are h^ft after its exclusion. Indeed, I find 

 myself quite unable to give precise characters for the genus, the varia- 



