SILVERBILL 157 



SILVERBILL 



Lichenops perspicillatus 



Black ; primaries white with black tips and bases ; fleshy ring 

 round eye and bill palest yellow ; length 5.6 inches. Female : 

 above dark brown with light edging to feathers ; remiges chestnut, 

 with dark brown tips ; wing-coverts dark brown with fulvous tips ; 

 beneath fulvous white, breast with dark striations ; bill yellowish. 



NATURALISTS have said a great deal about the well- 

 known Silverbill (the most important member of 

 my " Spectacular " group), the question as to 

 whether the black and red birds are sexes or two 

 distinct species having long remained unsettled, 

 Azara, writing in the last century, under the heading 

 Pico de Plata, rightly described the red bird as the 

 female of the black ; but unfortunately, in another 

 part of his work he described the female again as a 

 different species, naming it Suiriri chorreado. Darwin 

 also separated the sexes, and gave the name of 

 Lichenops erythropterus to the red-plumaged bird. 

 He made a minute examination of both, and proved 

 to his own satisfaction that it was impossible to 

 believe that two birds with so many structural 

 differences could be one species. 



When one considers the habits of the two birds, 

 even where they are most abundant and seen continu- 

 ally, it is indeed difficult to believe that they are one 

 and the same species. They are never seen associating 

 together, even in the love season, and when I have 

 watched a pair actually engaged in constructing their 

 nest, they appeared to keep as far apart as possible. 



