FKINGILLA PALMjE. 



(PALMAN CHAFFINCH.) 



Fringilla palmce, Tristram, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 6, iii. p. 489 (June 1889). 

 Fringilla ccerulescens, Koenig, Journ. f. Orn. 1889, p. 183. 



Figurw notabiles. 

 Meade- Waldo, Ibis, 1890, pi. iii.; Koenig, J. f. O. 1890, tab. vii. 



£ ad. supra saturate plumbeo-cseruleus, nee viridi notatus, uropygio concolore : corpore subtus, alis et cauda 

 sicut in Fr. tintillone picturatis, sed abdomine albo nee cervino. 



? ad. Fringilla tintilloni similis, sed supra pallidior et sordidior, et abdomine albo nee cervino-albo 

 distinguenda. 



Adult Male (Palma, June 15th). Differs from Fringilla tintillon in having the upper parts uniform 

 plumbeous, there being no green on the back or rump, and the abdomen is pure white, not pale 

 ochreous buff. Total length about 7 inches, culmen 0*65, wing 3"55, tail 3"15, tarsus - 95. 



Adult Female (Palma, April 14th) . Resembles Fr. tintillon, but has the upper parts somewhat duller and 

 lighter, and the abdomen is pure white and not buffy white. 



The present species is an insular form, being found only on the island of Palma, one of the 

 Canary group, where it appears to be tolerably common. 



Both Dr. Koenig and Canon Tristram claim to have first discovered this Chaffinch, and both 

 described it in the same year. It is not for me to decide to whom the credit of its discovery is 

 due ; but there is no doubt that Canon Tristram's description is the one that was first published, 

 and his name will therefore stand, it having the priority by several months, and that given by 

 Dr. Koenig will thus sink into a synonym. 



Dr. Koenig says (J. f. O. 1890, p. 481) that this bird only inhabits the laurel-groves, and he 

 never met with it in the chestnut-woods. He did not visit the pine-woods, and was therefore 

 unable to say whether it occurs there. Its call-note, he says, differs considerably from that of 

 the Teneriffe Chaffinch, and is best described by its Palman name chiri-chiri, chiri-chiri. Its song 

 also appeared to him to vary from that of the Teneriffe bird. Mr. Meade- Waldo writes respecting 

 this bird (Ibis, 1889, p. 510) as follows : — " The first day, besides solving the Pigeon question, we 

 procured a very interesting form of Chaffinch. Canon Tristram shot the first two examples, and 

 I soon afterwards shot two more. They differed from F. tintillon in the green on the rump being 

 entirely wanting, the blue slate-colour extending over the whole of the back and being of a 

 slightly lighter shade. The lower breast and abdomen, instead of being buff, is pure white, 

 and the green on the wing-coverts is wanting. This bird, of which we obtained some twenty 



2b 



