PLANT-C UTTERS. 



■4 



Fig. 107.— The Chilian Plant-cutter {Fh^totoiiia rara). 



Sub-Family IX. 



THE PLANT-CUTTERS. PHVTOTOMIN.E.* 



General Characteristics.— Bill short, conical, with the lateral margins serrated. 



The Plant-cutters constitute another group of the large-billed 

 finches. These birds are peculiar to the temperate regions of 

 South America, where they frequently visit the environs of in- 

 habited and cultivated places. They live in pairs or in small 

 troops, despoiling gardens and orchards and devastating planta- 

 tions by cutting oft the buds and fruits. Their flight is short and 

 low, but sometimes prolonged, and their habits resemble those of 

 the tanagers. Their note is excessively disagreeable, approaching 

 the noise made by the sharpening of a saw. They feed on grains, 

 buds, and insects. They are generally of moderate size, about 

 equalling the bullfinch in their dimensions. In order to enable 

 them to obtain their food, the margins of the upper mandible are 

 finely toothed. 



The type of this sub-family — 



* ^vTov, phyton, a plant : TOfj.ri, tome, a cut or incision. 



