ARKANSAW SISKIN. 209 
greater wing-coverts are tipt with white, which forms a 
narrow band across the wing; the primaries, excepting the 
exterior one, are slightly edged with white ; the third, fourth, 
fifth, sixth, and seventh are white towards the base, so as to 
exhibit a white spot beyond the wing-coverts ; the first four 
primaries are nearly equal in length, the fifth is a quarter of 
an inch shorter ; the secondaries are broadly margined with 
white exteriorly towards their tips. The tail is slightly emar- 
einated, the feathers being blackish, slightly edged with dull 
whitish ; the three exterior ones are widely pure white on the 
middle of their inner webs. 
The specimen we have just described is a male, evidently 
in perfect plumage ; the female, and state of imperfect plu- 
mage, are unknown ; but, without risking any great deviation 
from the truth, we may state, from analogy, that the young 
resemble the female, which must be destitute of the black cap, 
and have the colours less vivid and less pure. 
The Arkansaw siskin certainly resembles the American 
goldfinch in its winter dress; but a still more striking 
similarity exists in some other birds, such as the Kuropean 
siskin (fringilla spinus), and the Olivarez (#ringilla Magel- 
lanica, Vieill.) of South America ; and it is so similar to the 
European, that it might, with a much greater degree of pro- 
priety, be considered as a variety, than those regarded as such 
by authors. They can, however, be easily distinguished by 
the following comparative characters :—All the under parts of 
the Arkansaw siskin are bright yellow, whilst the corresponding 
parts of the European siskin are tinged with greenish, the throat 
being black, and the belly, vent, and flanks, whitish, spotted 
longitudinally with black ; the margins and spots of the wing 
and tail-feathers are white in our bird, and yellow in the 
Kuropean siskin ; the white spots on the tail of the Arkansaw 
siskin are confined to the three outer feathers, whilst, in the 
foreign bird, all the feathers, excepting the two middle ones, 
are marked with yellow ; the bill of our species is also a little 
shorter, less compressed, and less acuminated; finally, we 
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