438 



U. S. p. R. R. EXP. AND SURVEYS — ZOOLOGY — GENERAl, REPORT. 



no white at its base ; the next has the outer web and tip brown ; in all the rest the whole 

 feather is white, the terminal half, or three quairters of an inch, alone being brown, this color 

 extending farthest back on the outer web. 



A female specimen agrees in the characters of bill and tail. The black crown and pectoral 

 crescent, with the chestnut shouldeft, are wanting. The whole upper parts are brownish yellow, 

 streaked with, darker. There is a short maxillary stripe of brown dots. The chin, throat, and 

 upper part of the breast are tinged in places with brownish. There are no brown streaks on 

 the breast. 



The combination of the black pectoral crescent and crown, with the absence of a chestnut 

 collar, and the chestnut shoulders will readily distinguish this species from any other. The 

 female will be best known by the stout bill and transverse outline of the white on the tail feathers. 



The Flectro2)ha7ies maccownii is quite diiferent from the other species of the genus in the 

 enormously large bill and much shorter hind claw, so much so, in fact, that Bonaparte places it 

 in an entirely different family. As, however, many of the characteristics are those of Plectro- 

 phanes, and the general coloration especially so, I see no objection to keeping it in this genus 

 for the present. 



List of specimens. 



Sub-Family SPIZELLINAE. 



Cii. — Bill variable, usually almost straight ; sometimes curved. Commissure generally nearly straight, or slightly concave. 

 Upper mandible widsr than lower. Nostrils exposed. Wings moderate ; the outer primaries not much rounded. Tail variable. 

 Feet large ; tarsi mostly longer than the middle toe. 



The species are usually small, and of dull color. Nearly all are streaked on the back and 

 crown ; often on the belly. None of the United States species have any red, blue, or orange, 

 and the yellow, when present, is as a superciliary streak, or on the elbow edge of the wing. 



In the arrangement of this sub-family, as of the others belonging to the Fringillidae, I do 

 not profess to give anything like a natural system. The species belonging to it at my com- 

 mand are too few, and my knowledge of exotic forms too limited to permit anything more than 

 an attem[)t at a convenient artificial scheme by which the determination of the genera may be 

 facilitated. 



A. — Tail small and short ; wings considerably or decidedly longer than the tail, owing either 

 to the elongation of the wing or the shortening of the tail. Lateral toes shorter than the middle, 

 without its claw. Species streaked above and below. 



