PITYLUS ATRO-CHALYBEUS, (nobis). 

 Steel-grey Kernel-eater. 



PLATE III. 



P. corpore toto atro-chalybeo, genis juguloque nigris. 



W e are indebted to the researches of Dr Such, who has enriched our cabinets 

 with many new and rare birds from South America, for the species now first 

 figured and described. It appears to possess all the prominent characters of 

 that group of the Loxiadm to which Cuvieb has given the generic appella- 

 tion of Pitylus., and whose station appears to be intermediate between that 

 of which the Hawfinch (G. coccothraustes, Briss.) is the type, and the other 

 powerful billed species arranged under the genera Loocia, Strobilophaga, &c. 

 It is a native of the Brazils, but little or no information has reached us of its 

 peculiar habits. The great strength and form of its bill, however, seem to 

 indicate, that it is only by the powerful exertion of that member that it pro- 

 cures its food, which, in all probability, consists of the kernels of the hardest 

 fruits, or the indurated seeds of different vegetables and grasses. It mea- 

 sures upwards of nine inches in length. The bill is of an orange-red colour, 

 very thick and strong, the upper mandible considerably arched, and hooked 

 at the tip, the margins forming towards its middle a prominent angle or 

 tooth. The whole of the body is of a blackish or steel grey colour, with the 

 exception of the cheeks and throat, which are black. The tail is long, and 

 slightly wedge-shaped ; its colour, as well as that of the greater quills, brown- 

 ish-black. Legs and toes black. 

 (3.) 



