COCCOTHRAUSTES MELANURA, (nobis). 



Black-tailed Hawfinch. 



PLATE LXIII. 



C. capite, remigibus caudaque nigris, dorso brunnescente ; rostro pedibusque flavis. 



Le Gros-bec de la Chine, Son. Voy. Ind. vol. ii. p. 199- 



Grey-necked Grosbeak, Lath. Gen. Hist. vol. v. p. 250. — Shaw. Gen. Zool. vol. ix. part ii. p. 312. 



Loxia melanura, Lath. Ind. Orn. vol. i. p. 389- 



We are indebted to Mr Andrew Johnstone, for some years surgeon to 

 the Buckinghamshire East Indiaman, for skins of this handsome and typi- 

 cal species, which he procured from the Chinese in the neighbourhood of 

 Canton. Though described by most general ornithological writers, we are 

 aware of no plate, unless it may be in the Planches Enluminees of Buf- 

 fon, which we have not had an opportunity of consulting. 



It approaches very nearly to the size of the common Hawfinch of Great 

 Britain, but is of a more slender and elegant form. The head, cheeks, 

 throat, quills, greater coverts and tail, are very deep black, with steel-blue 

 reflections ; the greater coverts are tipped with white, and the exterior webs 

 of the second, third, fourth and fifth quills are white for an inch from the 

 point. The back is dull wood-brown, shaded into a brownish-grey on the 

 rump ; the under parts are a very pale wood-brown, shaded into a chesnut 

 colour on the sides and flanks; the under tail-coverts are nearly pure 

 white : the bill and legs are fine gamboge-yellow. 



