3 1 8 Mr. R. F. Tomes on the 



Gray, Degland, and of Keyserliug and Blasias, will be quite suffi- 

 cient for me to adduce in support of this statement, whilst the 

 name of Professor Macgillivray, so far as I know, stands alone in 

 justification of its asserted Fringilline affinities. 



Having received, through the kindness of Mr. Sclater*, some 

 specimens preserved in spirit, I set about making a dissection, 

 the object of which was to ascertain if any osteological pecu- 

 liarities were present which might confirm or refute the views of 

 Professor Macgillivray. The results of this examination I now 

 propose to give. Before doing this, however, it ap])eavs de- 

 sirable to mention what has been stated by the late Professor, 

 and I cannot do better than quote his own words, being confident 

 of their great accuracy : — 



" Tongue slender, trigonal, obliquely truncated and lacerate ; 

 oesophagus enlarged into a kind of half-cross, inclined toward the 

 right side ; stomach muscular, with a dense rugous epithelium. 



" The examination of the digestive organs of the only known 

 species of this genus at once determines its natural affinities, 

 showing that, having the kind of dilatation of the oesophagus 

 peculiar to the Huskers, it must be referred to that group, 

 although it has hitherto been considered as closely connected 

 with the Tits. 



" In some respects it is distantly allied to Emberiza schceniclus ; 

 but its more direct affinities are, I think, to the species of the 

 American genus Ammodramus, whose mode of life is very similar. 

 Its affinity to the Tits is very remote ; and, although I have been 

 censured for pointing out errors, I cannot allow such an associa- 

 tion to remain undisturbed. The bird in question has not the 

 abrupt bristle-tipped tongue of a Tit, and its oesophagus is 

 dilated toward the right side, as in all the birds which I have 

 referred to the order of Huskers. 



"During the autumn and winter they live chiefly on the seeds 

 of the reeds, which they pick from the husks ; but they also, as 

 is related by Mr. Dykes, feed upon Succinea amphibia and Pupa 

 muscorum, he having found ' the crop of one, which was not 

 larger than a hazel-nut, containing twenty of the former, and 



* For these specimens our best thanks are due to Mr. Henry Stevenson 

 of Norwich. — Ed. 



