270 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 



We are indebted to Mr. Cooper, one of the most philosophic of the American 

 naturalists, for the first account of this elegant and striking- bird, the only true 

 Coccothraustes hitherto discovered in the New World. It agrees, in every 

 essential point of structure, with that form which is spread over the temperate 

 latitudes of the Old World, and to which belong the Common Hawfinch of Europe 

 and the Fork-tailed Hawfinch of China (C. melanurd). With this type we at 

 present rank the Common Greenfinch (C. cloris) as an aberrant example. It 

 still remains, however, to detect, by analysis, its true station in the genus, or, in 

 other words, the higher groups it is intended by Nature to typify. We suspect 

 it is not pre-eminently typical. The bill, although particularly large, betrays a 

 decided weakness of structure, by the under mandible being much narrower 

 and smaller than the upper ; while in the sub-genus Guiraca both mandibles are 

 of equal thickness. This inequality is one of the most striking characters of the 

 Tenuirostres, and of nearly all groups and types which represent that tribe. Of 

 this the Masophagidce, the Cehlepyrince, the Oriolincv, Sec, are striking instances. 

 The yellow and black plumage of the present species* immediately reminds 

 us of an Oriole, an Icterus, and a Goldfinch ; which are unquestionably 

 Tenuirostral types : it is, therefore, highly probable that this form possesses the 

 same relation. There is a concealed, but a very singular analogy between our 

 European Coccothraustes and the Bomby cilia garrula; and this latter also forms 

 part of a group — the Ampelidce, which likewise represents the Tenuirostres. — Sw. 



DESCRIPTION 



Of a male, killed on the Saskatchewan, 1829. 



Colour. — A line round the base of the bill, continued in a stripe to the eye, the crown, lesser 

 coverts, primaries, and tail, with its upper coverts, deep black : inner tips of the two outer 

 tail feathers pale. Posterior greater coverts, secondaries, and tertiaries pure white. Front, 

 superciliary bands, dorsal and ventral plumage, under tail coverts, and inside of the wings, 

 gamboge-yellow. All the head beneath the eye, with the nape, umber-brown, that colour 

 gradually blending, on the breast and back, with the. yellow. Thigh feathers black, edged 

 with yellow. Bill greenish-yellow. Legs flesh-coloured. 



Form, with reference to the European Hawfinch, typical ; but the wings and tail are pro- 

 portionably longer, and the bill rather smaller: the ends of the lesser quills are not dilated: 

 in every other respect the structure of the two species is precisely the same. 



Female. — Head and dorsal plumage hair-brown, edged, particularly on the neck, with 



* Coccothraustes also represents the typical weaving birds of Africa and India (Ploceus, Cuv.), in which black and 

 yellow are the predominant colours. — Sw. 



