PYRENESTES FRONTALIS. 



Length of the tarsus — 

 of the outer toe . 

 of the middle toe. 

 of the inner toe . 

 of the hinder toe . 



DIMENSIONS 



Inches. Lines. 

 Length from the point of the bill to 



the tip of the tail 7 4 



of the bill from the angle of 



the mouth 9 



of the wings when folded 3 9 



ofthetail 3 



The colours of the other sex not known. 



(Bird of the Second year. Plate LXII a.) 



Colour. — The front, the head, and the neck dull orange-coloured brown, 

 the feathers margined with yellowish brown ; the interscapulars, back, and 

 rump umber-brown, the feathers tipped with yellowish brown. The lesser 

 wing coverts, the quill coverts, and the quill and tail feathers dark liver- 

 brown, with light sienna-coloured tips, the base of wing feathers white. The 

 breast, belly, vent, and under tail coverts dirty chocolate-red, the feathers 

 edged and tipped with pale cream-yellow. Bill at base and tip liver-brown, 

 elsewhere pale orange-yellow. Legs and toes liver-brown. 



(Young bird. Plate LXII b.) 

 Above dusky orange-coloured brown, the feathers narrowly margined with 

 pale yellowish brown ; below white, freely blotched with chocolate-red, the 

 blotches in the form of longitudinal stripes, one along the middle of each fea- 

 ther. Quill and tail feathers dirty brownish-red, the outer vanes faintly 

 edged with yellowish brown ; no white at the base of the quill feathers, 

 hence the white speculum, found in the adult, is absent. The tip of the 

 upper and the base of both mandibles livid liver-brown, elsewhere the bill is 

 nearly of a Dutch-orange colour. 



This is the only species of the groupe which has yet been found in South Africa. Its bill is 

 very powerful, and is, with regard to size and strength, unapproached by any of the other 

 FrincjillidcB of that country. Owing to the sides being moderately compressed, or at all 

 events, not so convex as in the larger-billed species of the tribe, it exhibits a peculiar descrip- 

 tion of culmen, being especially towards its base broad and perfectly flat ; this appearance it 

 presents for more than half its length, and anteriorly, is separated on each side from the lateral 

 parts of the bill by a well defined longitudinal groove, which originates on the inner side of the 

 anterior extremity of the nostrils. 



Most of the FringilUda of South Africa resort to localities which abound in brushwood or 

 dwarf trees. Pyrenestes frontalis, on the other hand, inhabits exclusively the forests, and 

 never condescends to visit but the largest trees, hence it is only very partially scattered over 

 the country. The only specimens which have been obtained within the limits of the Cape 

 Colony were discovered in the forests upon the eastern frontier. About Port Natal, however, 

 the bird is not so rare, and specimens are readily to be obtained there at all seasons of the year. 

 It feeds principally upon berries and small fruits. 



