9 



FRINGILLA TINTILLON. 



(AZOREAN CHAFFINCH.) 



Fringilla canariensis, Vieill. Nouv. Diet. xii. p. 232 (1816). 



Fringilla tintillon, Webb et Berth. Orn. Canar. ii. p. 21, pi. iv. fig. 1 (1841). 



Fringilla moreleti, Pucb. R. Z. p. 413 (1859). 



Fringilla canariensis, var. moreleti, Drouet, Elem. Faun. Acor. p. 117. no. 27 (1861). 



Figura unica. 

 Webb and Berthelot, torn. cit. pi. 4. fig. 1. 



d ad. supra Fringilla spodiogence similis, sed rostro robustiore et cauda nigrofusca, rectricibus extemis pogonio 

 externo ad basin, et interne- ad apicem albis : secundariis et sequentibus pogonio interno vix albido 

 apicatis : gula, facie suboculari, gutture et pectore pallide brunnescenti-isabellinis : corpore reliquo 

 subtus albicante, crisso subcaudalibusque isabellino lavatis : hypochondriis griseo-plumbeis : rostro et 

 pedibus ut in Fr. spodiogend. 



$ ad. foeminse Fr. spodiogence similis, sed rostro robustiore, corpore subtus saturatiore et cauda ut in mare (sed 

 saturatiore) distinguenda. . 



Adult Male (St. Michael's, Azores, March 1865). Forehead black; crown, nape, and scapulars dark lead- 

 blue, this colour being darkest on the crown ; back and rump dark yellowish green, with dull slate-blue 

 showing through every here and there ; upper tail-coverts dark slate-blue, washed with green ; wings as 

 in Fringilla Calebs ; tail blackish brown, the two central feathers washed with slate-grey, and the outer 

 feathers edged with white on the inner web, the outermost having the outer web white at the base ; 

 auriculars, throat, and breast light yellowish buff, without any trace of red as in Fringilla spodiogena ; 

 flanks washed with pale slaty grey; abdomen and under tail-coverts white, washed with yellowish buff; 

 bill lead-blue; legs brown; iris dark brown. Total length 5 - 8 inches, culmen - 65, wing 3'25, tail 2*8, 

 tarsus 0"85. 



Adult Female (St. Michael's, Azores) . Differs from the females of F. Calebs and F. spodiogena in having a 

 much more powerful and larger beak, rather less white on the tail, and the breast being of a darker 

 shade, washed with dull buff. 



This, a perfectly distinct species of Chaffinch, though allied to both the common and the 

 Algerian Chaffinches, is found only on the Atlantic group of islands — the Azores, Madeira, and 

 the Canaries. Mr. F. DuCane Godman, who has carefully examined the types of F. tintillon and 

 F. moreleti, has come to the conclusion that but one species exists in the Atlantic islands ; and I 

 have followed him in uniting these two species, as also in using the specific name of tintillon in 

 preference to the older one of Vieillot. As so little is known respecting the present species, I do 

 not hesitate to transcribe the excellent notes published by Mr. Godman in his ' Natural History 

 of the Azores,' as follows : — " In order to satisfy myself as to the validity of the species described 



