GROSBEAK. 221 



damage to the orchards, but in return the flesh is very savoury : the 

 female lays ash-coloured eggs, spotted with black. 



A. — Loxia naevia, Gm. Lin. i. 845. 



This is brownish above, each feather marked in the middle with 

 black; sides of the head, beneath the body, and wing coverts dusky 

 white, dashed with black ; shoulders and rump pale yellow ; quills 

 and tail black, the last edged with grey ; bill and legs pale. 



This is either a female of the former, or probably a young bird, 

 it not being uncommon in such, with black in the plumage, to be 

 greatly mottled in various shades, before they arrive at maturity. 



13.— GAMBIA GROSBEAK. 



Loxia melanocephala, Intl. Orn. i. 391. Lin. i. 305. Gm. Lin. i. 859. Klein, 94. 



Daud. ii. 372. Shaw's Zool. ix. 290. 

 Cocothraustes Gambensis, Bris. iii. 230. Id. 8vo. i. 373. 

 Tisserin, Tern. Man. Ed. ii. Anal. p. lxx. 

 Gambia Grosbeak, Gen. Syn. iii. 149. Alb. iii. pi. 62. 



LENGTH six inches or more. Bill cinereous ; irides white ; the 

 head, throat, and fore part of the neck, black; rest of the plumage 

 yellow, mixed with green ; quills and tail green, edged with yellow ; 

 the last two inches long, and rounded ; legs ash-colour. 



Inhabits Gambia, in Africa, also Senegal. 



14— GOLD-BACKED GROSBEAK. 



Loxia aurea, Ind. Orn. i. 373. Gm. Lin. i. 846. Daud. ii. 388. Shaw's Zool. ix. 285. 

 Gold-backed Grosbeak, Gen. Syn. iii. 115. Id. Sup. 149. Brown III. pi. 25. 



LENGTH six inches. Bill, head, and neck, deep black, but the 

 feathers not short, and velvet-like, as in the Cape Species ; the back 



