BIRDS. 



105 



frequent resort is the Opuntia Galapageia, about the fleshy leaves of which they 

 hop and climb, even with their back downwards, whilst feeding with their sharp 

 beaks, both on the fruit and flowers. Often, however, they alight on the ground, 

 and mingled with the flock of the above mentioned species, they search for seeds 

 in the parched volcanic soil. The extreme scarceness of the jet-black specimens, 

 which I mentioned under the head of the genus Geospiza, is well exemplified in 

 the case of the C. scandens, for although I daily saw many brown-coloured ones, 

 (and two collectors were looking out for them), only one, besides that which is 

 figured, was procured, and I did not see a second. 



2. Cactornis assimilis. Gould. 



Plate XLIII. 

 Tisserin des Gallapagos, (lie St. Charles,) Neboux, Revue Zoologique, 1840, p. 291. 

 C. Mas (jun?) corpore suprh fuliginoso, {gutture abdomineque exceptis,) cinereo 

 marginatis; rostro pallide rufescenti-brunneo ; pedibus nigrescenti-brunneis. 



Long. tot. S-| unc. ; rostri, f ; alee, 2| ; caudce, If ; tarsi, f . 



Upper surface of the body sooty black, margined with cinereous, as well as the 

 throat and abdomen ; the bill pale rufous brown ; the feet blackish brown. 

 Habitat, Galapagos Archipelago, 



I do not know from which island of the group this species was procured ; 

 almost certainly not from James Island. Analogy would in this case, as in that 

 of Camarhynchus crassirostris, lead to the belief that the old male would be jet 

 black. By a mistake this bird has been figured standing on the Opuntia Dai winii, 

 a plant from Patagonia, instead of the O. Galapageia. I may here mention that a 

 third and well characterized species of Cactornis has lately been sent by Captain 

 Belcher, R.N. to the Zoological Society ; as Capt. Belcher visited Cocos Island, 

 which is the nearest land to the Galapagos Archipelago, being less than 400 miles 

 distant, it is very probable that the species came thence. 



Sub-Genus.— CERTHIDEA. Gould. 

 Certhidea differt a genere Geospiza rostro graciliore et acutiore; naribus basalibus 

 et non tectis; mandibulce superioris margine recto; tar sis longioribus et gracilioribus. 

 Of the foregoing sub-genera, Geospiza, Camarhynchus and Cactornis belong to 

 one type, but with regard to Certhidea, although Mr. Gould confidently believes it 

 should also be referred to the same division, yet as in its slighter form and weaker 

 bill, it has so much the appearance of a member of the Sylviadce, he would by no 

 means insist upon the above view being adopted, until the matter shall have been 

 more fully investigated. 



