446 EMBEllIZA CITRINELLA. 



short and rather slender. The tongue is sagittate and denti- 

 culate at the base, narrowed towards the end, and terminates 

 in two short bristly points. The oesophagus is two and a half 

 inches long ; the gizzard eight twelfths in diameter ; the in- 

 testine eight inches ; the coeca two twelfths. 



The plumage is soft and blended, the feathers lanceolate, 

 with a long slender plumule of about eight filaments. Those 

 about the base of the bill are terminated by short bristles. 

 The frontal feathers encroach on the nasal groove and cover 

 the nostrils, which are oblong, with a horny plate above. The 

 wings are broad and rounded ; the quills eighteen, the first, 

 second, third, and fourth almost equal, but the third longest ; 

 the primaries narrow and obtuse ; the secondaries broader, 

 truncato-retuse. The tail is rather long, a little emarginate. 



The upper mandible is brown, the lower light greyish-blue. 

 The iris is light brown. The feet are ochre-yellow tinged 

 with red, the claws dusky. The head, cheeks, fore-neck, 

 breast, belly, and lower tail-coverts are gamboge yellow, the 

 head and neck of a richer tint ; the tips of the feathers of 

 the head brownish-black or deep brow^n, forming a line of 

 that colour on either side from the forehead, over the eye, to 

 the occiput, which is darkish ; those of the lower and lateral 

 cervical greenish. The breast and sides are yellowish-red, each 

 feather darker in the centre ; the tail-coverts with a central 

 streak of reddish-brown, the feathers of the anterior part of the 

 back, and the scapulars, are yellowish-red on the sides, with a 

 brownish-black central streak ; those of the hind part of the 

 back and the upper tail-coverts are bright chestnut^ margined 

 with yellowish. The alula, primary coverts, and quills are 

 dusky ; the primaries narrowly margined externally with yel- 

 low, the secondaries and upper wing-coverts broadly margined 

 with yellowish- red^ the latter having a brownish-black centre. 

 The tail-feathers are brownish-black, the four middle rather 

 broadly edged with yellowish-red, the rest narrowly with yel- 

 lowish-grey, the two outer on either side with an elongated 

 somewhat conical spot of white on the inner web, that of the 

 outermost larger ; the outer margin of the lateral feather yellow- 

 ish-white. The concealed part of the plumage is dark-bluish 

 grey. 



