PHRYGILUS MELANODERUS 55 



strongly mottled with black centres ; scapulars like the back ; 

 lesser wing coverts yellowish green, with whitish edges forming 

 a bar ; median coverts like the back, with outer edges white, 

 forming a second bar ; primary coverts brown, upper outer 

 portion of web pale yellow ; primaries greyish brown, outer edges 

 canary yellow, becoming paler towards the tips ; upper tail 

 coverts same as back ; centre feathers of tail greenish brown, 

 shading into dark bro^vn towards the tips ; outer feathers canary 

 yellow at base, shafts brown, inner portion of web brown, 

 increasing in extent towards middle feathers; feathers of fore- 

 neck and sides of throat streaked with black ; centre of throat 

 sandy white ; sides of breast and flanks streaked with black, the 

 latter more strongly ; breast yellow, shading into whitish on 

 abdomen and under tail coverts ; under wing coverts and 

 axillaries pale yellow ; under tail coverts white, at the base 

 yellow. Total length, 5*6 ; culmen, 0*55 ; wing, 3*3 ; tarsus, 

 0*9 ; tail, 2*1 inches. 



I found this Finch common on open grassland, in flocks of 

 from half-a-dozen to twenty or more. My pair from Useless Bay 

 Settlement were in company with another pair, and both birds 

 were killed by the same "410 cartridge. So nearly does the 

 general colouring of this Finch assimilate its environment on the 

 ground, that, when motionless, only the black throat barred with 

 white catches the eye. It is one of the prettiest birds met with 

 in the island, but beyond this has no remarkable personality — as 

 in the case of P. gayi. It is often met with in settlements, yet 

 manifests no attachment for man. Beyond the merest twitter 

 usually uttered on the wing, it has no song. It is apparently 

 granivorous ; the stomachs of my three examples contained 

 grass seeds. 



Darwin speaks of this Finch as " extremely abundant in large 

 flocks in the Falkland Islands." 



There, also, Abbott found it "plentiful everywhere, summer 

 and winter." He says : — "It breeds in the latter end of Sep- 

 tember and beginning of October, laying three eggs in a nest 

 situated under the shelter of a tuft of grass. In the winter the 



