YELLOW-BACK FINCH. 247 



the Madeira parents of ours may have been imported 

 from Brazil thither ; a case the more probable, from 

 the fact of both being Portuguese colonies. 



YELLOW-BACK FINCH.* 

 -h Spermophila anoxanilia. — mihi. 



Though hitherto undescribed, this pretty species 

 is not rare : among the dark green pimento groves 

 of Mount Edgecumbe, it may be almost always met 

 with, and the contrast of its black head and yellow 

 back, renders it conspicuous. Various seeds and 

 small berries afford it food ; in April I have seen it 

 eagerly picking off the little crimson berries of the 

 fiddlewood, and swallowing them ; and in autumn I 

 have shot one engaged in feeding on the seeds of the 

 prickly-yellow tree. Probably grass-seed forms a 

 part of its nutriment ; late in the year when the 

 guinea-grass is ripe, I have observed them flitting 

 about from tussock to tussock. 



Its musical powers are but small. I have never 



* Length 4-J inches, expanse 8^, flexure 2^, tail l-^^, rictus yi-, tar- 

 sus -j^, middle toe ■^. Irides hazel ; feet blackish flesh-colour ; beak 

 black. 



Male. Head and breast black. Back yellow, becoming greenish to- 

 wards the rump, and merging into black on the tail. Wing-coverts yel 

 low, brightest at shoulder ; quills, and tail feathers edged with yellow. 

 Belly greyish ; under tail-coverts brick-red. 



Female. Upper parts olive yellow, bright on shoulders, dull on head 

 and rump. Under parts ashy grey, 



Latham (Syn. ii. 300) confounds this with the Black-face Grass-quit. 



