488 



FOUDIA 



Genus XXV. FOUDIA. 



Resembles Ploccus and IIypliantorni& in its general structure, and 

 inclines toward the former in the abdomen never being yellow or clear 

 white. It is characterised by the tail being perfectly square ; the nostrils 

 opening at the extreme base of the bill just iu front of the frontal feathers; 

 a blackish band through the eye. The males have a dull olive-shaded 

 plumage for the winter, similar to that of the females, but assume for the 

 breeding season, generally, a much brighter plumage with some red in it. 



Type. 



Foudia, Reicbenb. Syst. Av. pi. 79, fig. 2 (1850) . F. madagascariensis. 



Nesacanthis, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xiii. p. 483 (1890) F. eninentissbna. 



Neshyphantes, Shelley, B. Afr. I. p. 36 (1896) . . F. flavicans. 



KEY TO THE 8PECIBS. 



a. With red or yellow on the head ; bill black Males in breeding ijlumage. 

 fti. Bill stouter ; culmen more curved ; head red. 

 a". Bill slighter; mantle red, striped with black, 

 abdomen red like the general plumage. 



a^. Smaller; wing about 2'65 madagascariensis. 



h^. Larger; wing 3'3 aldabrana. 



b-. Bill stouter: mantle olive brown; abdomen 



whitish eniineiitissima. 



6^. Bill slender; culmen nearly straight. 



C-. Head and throat red ; back olive brown with 



the rump red rubra. 



d". No red on the body. 



c^. Head and throat yellow, shading in front 



into orange red flavicans. 



d^. Front of crown and the upper throat pale 



yellow seychellensis. 



/>. No red or yellow on the plumage ; bill brown . . . Females and males 



■in winter. 



Foudia madagascariensis. 



Loxia madagascariensis, Linn. S. N. i. p. 300 (1766). 



Foudia madagascariensis, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xiii. p. 433 (1890) Mada- 

 gascar, Riimion, Mauritius, Amirante IsL, Seychelles; Sibree, Ibis, 

 1891, p. 441 ; Butler, Foreign Finches in Captivity, p. 304, pi. 59, 

 figs. 1, 3 (1894); Eidgway, Proc. U. S. Mus. 1895, p. 514 Sey- 



