Finches and Sparrows 831 



capped Finch (Catamblyrhynchus diadema). This bird has usually been placed 

 with the true Finches (Fringillidce), but it is now separated on the ground that 

 the bill is conspicuously flattened laterally, and the plumage of the forehead 

 and crown is dense, erect, and plush-like, neither of these conditions prevailing 

 in the Fringillidce. It is a small bird, only about six inches in length, the general 

 color above being a dark bluish gray, with the crown, nape, lores, and region 

 around the eye black, while the entire under surface is deep chestnut. The 

 Plush-capped Finch is a native of the northern Andes from Colombia to Peru, 

 and beyond the fact that it is often seen in pairs and in the company of other 

 birds nothing appears to have been recorded concerning its habits. Its nest 

 and eggs are unknown. 



THE FINCHES AND SPARROWS 



(Family Fringillidce') 



In most parts of the world, but notably in the Northern Hemisphere, the 

 members of the present group are abundant and well known, being in general 

 plain-plumaged birds of small size, with a strong, hard, cone-shaped bill which 

 is adapted in most cases for shelling and eating the various seeds that form 

 the chief portion of their food when adult. Notwithstanding the ease with 

 which the ordinary or typical members of the group can be allocated, it is be- 

 yond question that, as currently accepted, the group is more or less artificial, 

 the line which separates it from the Tanagridce (Tanagers), for instance, being 

 especially unsatisfactory. The Buntings (Ember izince) afford another example 

 of the difficulty, not to say impossibility, of drawing a delimiting line, some 

 ornithologists according them full family rank, and others placing them directly 

 with the Fringillidce, a disposition here followed. The reasons for much of the 

 uncertainty regarding the affinities of the present and obviously allied groups 

 are due largely to the fact that the anatomical characters of a very large per- 

 centage of the forms are entirely unknown, and until these have been worked 

 out, we must remain in ignorance of the true systematic position. 



In addition to the above characters it may be mentioned that while the bill 

 is of a general conoid shape it is subject to considerable variation, being in 

 some cases remarkably thick, in others long and more slender, while in the 

 Crossbills it assumes an extreme form, the mandibles being crossed at their 

 tips. The wings, which contain nine primaries, are variable in shape, ranging 

 from long and pointed to short and rounded, as in the genus Passer, while the 

 twelve-feathered tail likewise varies, being graduated, rounded, square, or even 

 forked. The nostrils are pierced close to the line of the forehead and very 

 near the upper mandible, and are concealed by feathers or a membrane, while 

 the rictal bristles are obvious and usually distinct, at least among the North 

 American forms. The nestling plumage being variable does not afford as 

 good characters as in many other groups, while in the adults the plumage of 

 the sexes is dissimilar in perhaps a majority of cases. They ordinarily undergo 



