314 INSESSORES. CORCOTHRAUSTINA. 



Subfamily CORCOTHRAUSTINA Swains. 



The members of this Subfamily, throughout the typical 

 forms, are distinguished by a very powerful bill, being mas- 

 sively thick at the base, and tapering rapidly to the point. 

 In some genera the culmen of the upper mandible is slightly 

 arched, thus leading to the Subfamily Pyrrhul'ma. The 

 food of the typical species consists of the harder seeds, the 

 exterior covering or shell of which they are able to break by 

 the strength of their bill. Their legs are generally short, and 

 their feet formed for perching, the soles being large, and the 

 claws curved and sharp. Mr Swainson justly considers this 

 as the typical group of the Frbigillida. 



Genus LINARIA, Auct. LINNET. 



GENERIC CHARACTERS. 



Bill strait, conical entire ; mandibles compressed in the 

 front, and forming a very sharp point ; commissure strait. 

 Nostrils, basal, lateral, concealed by incumbent feathers. 

 Wings long, acuminate ; Avith the firs', second, and third, 

 quill feathers of nearly equal length. Tail more or less fork- 

 ed. Tarsi slender, short. Feet having the lateral toes of equal 

 length ; the hind toe, with its claw, as long as the middle one. 

 Claws slender, acute, curved ; that upon the hind toe larger, 

 and in old birds much longer than the rest. The Linnets 

 are placed by Mr Swainson in this Subfamily, of which 

 they constitute an aberrant form. To the genus Carduelia 

 the present one is closely allied through Linaria minor, 

 whose bill approaches in form and shape to that of the Car- 

 duelis spinus. Linnets associate in large flocks, feeding up- 

 on seeds. The species whose habits confine them more to 

 the ground than the others, live upon the oleaginous seeds 

 of cruciform plants ; the arboreal or perching kind seek 

 those of the birch, elm, alder, &:c. 



