24 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Family FRINGILLID^. 



THE FINCHES. 1 



Conirostral, "nine-primaried," acutiplantar Oscines, with ttie com- 

 missure distinctly' and more or less abruptly angulated or deflexed 

 basally, or else with the mandibular rami less than one-fifth as long as 

 gonys, the mandibular tomium distinctly elevated (often angulated, 

 sometimes toothed) post-medially, thence distinctly (usually abruptly) 

 deflected to the rictus; rictal bristles obvious, usually distinct. 



The above brief and in many respects unsatisfactory diagnosis cov- 

 ers the extreme variations in certain external structural details among 

 a very large assemblage of species arbitrarily considered as forming 

 a family Fringillidfe. As here limited the family includes the whole 

 of the Fringillidse as treated bv Dr. Sharpe in the twelfth volume of 

 the Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum ^ (the latest author- 

 ity on thegroup), onlj^ the genus Catmi'ibylyrh.ynclms being withdrawn,' 

 with the addition of the genera Pyrrhocoma, Pezopetes, Buarremon,*^ 

 ArreriKm, Diucopis. Cofiot/iraup/i^, 0/vothraupis (?), Saltator, and 

 '''' Pitylvf:"^ which Dr. Sclater, in the eleventh volume of the same 

 work" (and elsewhere), has placed among the Tanagridse. 



The group most closely related to the Fringillidae is, of course, that 

 called Tanagridse, or at least certain members of the latter, which pos- 

 sibly is, even after the above-mentioned eliminations, too comprehen- 



' Four vernacular names belong exclusively or specially to this family as a whole 

 or in part, and from these I have selected the one which seems to be most appro- 

 priate, although it is difficult to decide between /nc/i and sparrow. The fact is that 

 each of these names really has a restricted applicability, being commonly applied to 

 minor though more or leas arbitrary groups, and based on the comparatively scant 

 European fringilline fauna. They are therefore of still more limited applicability to 

 America forms, of which a great majority are very different from those of Europe, 

 and without any distinctive name. The term grosbeak can scarcely be considered in 

 this connection, having been applied indiscriminately to heavy-billed forms with- 

 eut regard to their real relationship to one another, not only crass-billed Fringillidse 

 but also Ploceidae having been thus designated. 



^ Catalogue | of the | Passeriformes, | or | Perching Birds, | in the | Collection of 



the I British Museum. | | Fringilliformes: Part III, | containing the family | 



Fringillidse. | By | R. Bowdler Sharpe. | London: | Printed by order of the Trus- 

 tees. I 1888. I (Pp. i-xv, 1-871, pis. i-xvi.) 



'This I have felt obliged to consider of separate family rank. (See page 19.) 



* An artificial genus which I have been obliged to divide into several {Buarremon, 

 Allrijirlf'x, Pselliophorus, and Lysurus). 



'Another heterogeneous group which consists of several generic types {Pitylus 

 Caryolhruiisti's, Pi;rij)orj)hynis, and Rhodoihraupis) . 



"Catalogue | of the | Passeriformes, | or Perching Birds, | in the | Collection | of 



the I British Museum. | | Fringilliformes: Part II. | Containing the Families 



Ccerebidfe, Tanagridse, and Icteridw. | By | Philip Lutley Sclater. | London: | 

 Printed by order of the Trustees. | 1886. | (Pp. i-xvii, 1-431, pis. i-xviii.) 



