117 



Very similar in color to Pyrenestes ostrinus, (Vieil.) but is much 

 smaller and less robustly organized. The bill especially is compara- 

 tively weak. In the species now described the crimson does not ex- 

 tend to the breast as in P. ostrinus. The measurements of the two 

 species are as follows : 



P. ostrinus, (Viell.) P. coccineus, Cassin. 



Total length (of skin) from tip 



of bill to end of tail about 5 T Vhs inches, 4j 4 ^ths inches. 

 Length of wing from flexure to 



tip of longest primary - 2 T 8 TJ ths u • Sf^ths 



Length of tail - - - 2 T 4 D -ths « - l^ths 



Length of bill from gape - rVhs " - yV^s 



Breadth of under mandible - j^ths u - T V^s 



u 



((. 



u 



The dimensions of the specimen of P. ostrinus here given, agree 

 almost exactly with those given by Mr. Swainson in Birds of Western 

 Africa, (vol. i, p. 158,) and also with Viellot's plate Ois. Chant, pi. 48. 



For a fine specimen of the rare Pyrenestes ostrinus, (Viell.) the 

 only specimen in the collection of th% Academy, we are again indebted 

 to Mr. Edw. Wilson, who obtained it in Paris. The Academy possesses 

 three specimens of the smaller species now described, two of which 

 were presented by Robt. McDowell, M.D., Surgeon at Sierra Leone, 

 and the other was presented, with other interesting birds, by Rev. Wes- 

 ley Johnson, a pious and learned gentleman attached to an American 

 Mission at Monrovia, Western Africa. 



Pitylus JJavo-cinereus, nobis. Lovia canadensis, Linn, variety A. 

 Lath. Gen. Hist. V. p. 282. — Space about the base of the bill extend- 

 ing to the eyes, and including the chin, black. Front and top of the 

 head, sides of the neck, breast, and under surface of the wings at the 

 shoulders, bright yellow, running into green on the neck and back. 

 Upper part of the back, wings and tail yellowish green. Scapular 

 region, lower part of the back, rump, upper tail-coverts, abdomen and 

 under tail-coverts light cinereous gray. Middle of the belly and under 

 tail-coverts nearly white. 



Hab. South America. 



Total length, of skin, from tip of bill to end of tail about 7 inches, 

 ™ing 4, tail 3 inches. 



1 have seen only one specimen of this species, which belonged to 

 the Rivoli collection. It is nearly related to Loxia canadensis, Linn. T 

 which it strongly resembles in general appearance, but may at once be 

 distinguished by the cinereous lower portion of the whole body above 

 and below, which color is separated from the yellow of the breast by a 

 w ell defined line, while in L. canadensis the entire inferior surface is 

 bright yellow. The bill of the species now described is larger than 

 that of either of eight specimens of L. canadensis which I have 



examined. ' 



3. Otters in Hadley, Mass., (Hampshire and Franklin Express, 

 Nov., 1848.)— A few weeks since, (Sept. last) a pair of young otters 

 were killed in Hadley by Mr. Elijah Cowles. They were in company 

 with two other young and two old ones. The latter had been seen, 

 during the summer, about Smith and Granger's pond in North Hadley ; 



