272 BIRDS. 
Vipvua*, Cuv. 
The Widows, as they are termed, are birds of Africa and India, which 
have the bill of a Linnet, sometimes a little more inflated at the base, and 
distinguished by having some of the quills of the tail, or of its upper co- 
verts, excessively elongated in the males}. z 
There is a gradual transition, and without any assignable interval, from 
the Linnets to {, 
CoccotHraustes, Cuv. 
Or the Grosbeaks, whose exactly conical bill is only distinguished by 
its excessive size. 
Loxia coccothraustes, L.; Enl. 99 and 100; Naum. 114. (The 
Common Grosbeak). Is one of those that are most truly worthy of 
the name. Its enormous bill is yellowish; back and calotte brown; 
rest of the plumage greyish; throat and quills of the wings, black; 
a white band on the wings. It inhabits the mountain forests, builds 
lensis, Enl. 115, 1;—Carduelis cucullata, Swains. Zool. Ill. There are other species 
also, called asérils, bengalis and senegallis, in the work of Vieillot, entitled Ois. chant. 
de la zone torride, such as the Fr. bicolor, pl. ix;—Fr. tricolor, pl. xx;—cinerea, 6 ;— 
caerulescens, 8 ;—melpoda, 7 ;—viridis, 4;—erythronotos, 14;—quinticolor, 15 ;—rubri- 
ventris, 13;—frontalis or Lox. frontalis, L. 16;—F. guttata, 3;—add Fring. melanotis, 
Temm. Col. 151, 1;—Fr. sanguinolenta, Ib. 2;—Fr. polyzona, Ib. 3;—Fr. otoleucus, 
Tem. Col. 269, 2, 3;—Fr. simplex, Lichtenst. Col. 358;—Fr. lutea, Col. 365 ;—Fr. 
ornata, Pr. Max. Col. 208. The pretended Emberiza oryzivora, Enl. 388, has also 
the same bill; but the stiff and pointed quills of the tail distinguish it. 
Numerous Finches are described by M. Ch. Bonaparte, Ann. of New York Lyc. 
II. December, 1826, p. 106, et seq. 
* It is not easy to see why Linnaeus and Gmelin arranged them with the Bunt- 
ings, by the names of Emberiza regia, (Enl. 8, 1);—Emb. serena, (Ib. 2);—Emb. 
paradisea, (Enl. 194);—Emb. panayensis, (Enl. 647);—mb. longicauda, (Enl. 635). 
Add, Fringilla superciliosa, Vieill. Gal. 61. If we do not leave the Widows with the 
Linnets, there is no other place for them except among the Grosbeaks. 
¢ In the Veuve a épaulettes (V. longicauda), the coverts only are elongated; in the 
others, it is the quills. N.B. The Emb. principalis, (Edw. 270), and the Emb. vidua, 
(Aldrow. Orni. II, 565), appear to me to be the same bird in different states of 
plumage. The Emb. psittacea, Seb. I, pl. xvi, fig. 5, is not very authentic. The 
angolensis, Salern. Orni. 277; the Veuve chrysoptére, Vieill. Ois. ch. pl. xli, and the 
Lox. macroura, Enl. 283, 1, which, perhaps, do not differ from it, are not Widows, 
but common Grosbeaks. 
} This transition is effected, in the species I have been able to examine, in the fol- 
lowing order, the bill always increasing in size: Lowia quadricolor, (Embr., Lin.) 101, 
2, the same as the Gros bec longicone, Tem. Col. ;— L. sanguinirostris, Enl. 183, 2;—L. 
molucca, Enl. 139, 2;—Z. variegata, Vieill. 51;—L. punctulata, Ib. 1;—L. maja, 
Enl. 109, 1;—L. striata, Enl. 153, 1;—L. nitida, Vieill. 50;—L. malacca, Enl. 139, 
3;—L. astrild., Enl. 157, 2;—Z. bella, Vieill. 55;—L. cantans, 1d. 57;—L. oryzivora, 
Enl. 152, 1;—L. fuscata, Vieill. pl. lxii;—Z. cyanea, Id. 64;—L. atricapilla, Id. 53; 
—L. nigra, Catesb. 1,68; Vieill. Gal. 57;—L. brasiliana, Enl. 309, 1;—Z. Ludovi- 
ciana, Enl. 153, 2; Vieill. Gal. 58;—Z. petronia (Pring. petronia, L.), Enl. 255;— 
L. chloris, Enl. 267, 2;—L. hematina, Vieill. pl. xvii, where the bill is too slender; 
L. guttata, Id. 68, is a variety of the same;—L. quinticolor, Id. 54;—L. fasciata, 
Brown, Ul. xxvii;—Z. madagascariensis, Enl. 1438, 2;—L. cerulea;—L. cardinalis, 
Enl. 37;—L. melanura;—L. coccothraustes, Enl. 89 and 100;—L. ostrina, Vieill. Ois. 
ch. 48, Gal. 60;—L. rosea, Vieill., pl. lxiii. 
> eS” Add, L. vespertina, Bonap. II, pl. xiv, f. 1;—L. ludoviciana, Wils. II, pl. xvii, 
f. 1;—L. cerulea, Wils. III, pl. xxiv, f. vi;—Z. purpurea, Wils. I, pl. vii, f..4.— 
Ena. Ep. 
