382 FRINGILLID.E. 



4. Sycalis arvensis. 



Chipiu, Azara, Apunt. i. p. 475 (1802) ; Hartl. hid. Azara, p. 9 



(1847). 

 Friugilla arvensis, Kittl. Mem. pres. Acad. St. Peter sb. ii. p. 134, 



tab. 4 (1835). 

 Crithagra ? brevirostris, Gould, Vvy. ' Beagle,'' Birds, p. 88 (1841). 

 FringiUa brevirostris, Gray, Gen. B. ii. p. 372 (1849). 

 Friugilla arvensis, Gray, Gen. B. ii. p. 372 (1849) ; id. Hand-l. B. ii. 



p. 84, no. 7229 (1870). 

 Sycalis luteiventris {nee Meyen), Burnt. La Plata Pels. ii. p. 489 



(1861) ; Durnf. Ibis, 1877, p. 33 ; Taczan. Orn. Perou, iii. p. 59 



(1886). 

 Sycalis arvensis, Scl. $ Salv. P. Z. S. 1868, p. 140 ; White, P. Z. S. 



1883, p. 433. 

 Critliagra brevirostris, Philippi <§• Landb. Cat. Aves Chili, p. 25. 

 Sycalis luteola (nee Sparrm.), Scl. Ibis, 1872, p. 25 (pt.) ; Scl. Sf 



Salv. Nomencl. Av. Neotr. p. 34 (1873, pt.) ; Durnf ord, Ibis. 1877, 



p. 172, 1878, p. 394; Scl # Salv. P. Z. S. 1879, p. 607 ; Salv. Cat. 



Strickl. Coll. p. 216 (1882); id. P. Z. S. 1883, p. 422; Gibson, 



Ibis, 1885, p. 278. 



Adult male. General colour above brown, washed with olive- 

 yellow, the feathers of the mantle and upper back edged with ashy ; 

 and broadly centred with blackish brown ; lower back and rump 

 olive-greenish, washed with ashy ; lesser wing-coverts olive-yellow ; 

 median and greater coverts, bastard-wing, and primary-coverts dark 

 brown, edged with whity brown ; quills dark brown, edged with 

 whity brown, and with dull olive-yellow near the base ; upper tail- 

 coverts brown, edged with ashy ; tail-feathers dark brown, edged 

 with whity brown, and fringed with whitish along the inner web ; 

 crown of head and hind neck dull olive-yellow, shaded with ashy, 

 the head distinctly streaked with blackish-brown centres to the 

 feathers ; base of forehead brighter yellow : lores and feathers 

 below the eye pale yellow, surmounted by a streak of bright golden 

 yellow ; ear-coverts brown, washed with olive-yellow ; cheeks, 

 throat, and under surface of body bright yellow, shaded with ashy 

 on the fore neck and breast ; abdomen rather brighter yellow ; sides 

 of the body and flanks shaded with ashy-brown ends to the feathers ; 

 thighs ashy whitish ; under tail-coverts yellow, the long ones white 

 at the ends ; under wing-coverts and axillaries yellow ; quills 

 below dusky, ashy whitish along the edge of the inner web. Total 

 length 5-2 inches, culmen - 4, wing 3, tail 2*1, tarsus 0*6. 



All the males in the British Museum appear to me to be in seasonal 

 or winter plumage, or else the ashy shade which pervades the general 

 aspect of the bird is an additional specific character distinguishing 

 it from its smaller and brighter tropical relatives. 



The adult female is browner than the male, with less yellow on 

 the back, the lower back and rump greenish, overshaded with ashy ; 

 the wing-coverts and quills externally brown : the lores and the 

 eyebrow are very faintly represented by a slight yellowish shade, 

 and the yellow on the under surface is altogether paler, and more 



