COCCOTHRArSTIX.E. 
These showy birds are peculiar to the southern parts of Xorth, and the northern parts of South, America. In the 
Northern States they are migi-atory ; but in the lower parts of Pennsylvania they reside during the whole year, fre- 
quenting the borders of creeks and rivulets, in sheltered hoUows covered with hoUy, laui-el, and other evergreens. 
They love also to reside in the vicinity of fields of Indian corn, a grain that constitutes their chief and favourite food. 
The seeds of apples, chen-les, and many other sorts of fruits, are also eaten by them ; and they are accused of destroy- 
ing bees. 
Their nests are composed of small twigs, tops of dry weeds, and slips of vine bark, lined with stalks of fine grass. 
They ai'e generally fixed either on a holly or laurel bush. The female lays four eggs thickly marked all over with 
touches of brownish olive, on a dull white ground. 
1. C. iirginianus Pr. Bonap. PI. enl. 37. — Loxia cardinalis . 3. C. phcRniceiis GoulA, Proc. Z. S. 1837- 1 1 !• 
Linn. 4. C. siniiatiis Pr. Bonap. Proc. Z. S. 1837. 111. 
2. C. Carkoui (Daud.) — Loxia cardinalis Sparr. Carls. Mus. t. 5. C. cameus Less. Rev. Zool. 1842. 'SOQ. 
41. ; Loxia fulgens Less. j 
COCCOTHRAUSTES Bl'isS.* 
Bill conic, very broad at the base ; the ciilmen slightly arched to the tip, rounded, and smooth ; the 
lateral margins angidated at the base, slightly arched, entire, and inflexed ; the loAver mandible 
some-svhat smaller than the upper, with the gonys very long, and advancing up-wards to the tip; the 
nostrils basal, lateral, oval, and concealed by the frontal plumes. Wings lengthened and acute, the first 
rather shorter than the second, the second and third the longest. Tail short, more or less forked. 
Tarsi shorter than the middle toe. The outer Toe somewhat longer than the inner, the hmd toe strong ; 
and the claws strong, curved, and acute. 
They are found in various parts of Europe, North America, and the northern parts of India, and i^erfonn periodical 
migrations in search of the fi-uits and seeds on which they feed. The great strength of their bills allows them to break 
cherry stones, almonds, pecans, &c., for the kernels. It is in the upper branches of trees that they form their nests 
Avith great taste, of vegetable fibres and lichen, lined with feathers, &c. : in which they deposit from two to five eggs, 
of a yellowish grey, spotted and streaked with brown and blackish grey. 
1. C. vulgaris Briss. PI. enl. 99- 100- — Loxia Coccothraustes 
Linn. ; Coccothraustes europseus Selby ; Coccothraustes deformis 
Koch. 
2. C. mekiHurus (Gruel.) Jard. and Selby's 111. Orn.pl. 63. 
3. C. vespertinus (Coop.) Pr. Bonap. Amer. Om. pi. 1,5. f. 1. — 
Coccothraustes Bonapartei Less. 111. Zool. pi. 31. 
4. C. ictemdes Vigors, Proc. Z. S. 1830. 8., Gould's B. Him. 
pi. 
5. C. melanoxanthus Hodgs. As. Res. xix. 150 Coccothraustes 
fortirostris Lafr. 
6'. C. olivaceus Fras. Proc. Z. S. 1 842. 1 44. 
7. C. rnniipes Hodgs. As. Res. xix. 150. 
8. C. ferreorostris Vigors, Zool. Journ. iv. 354. Beechey's 
\oy. Zool. pi. 8. — Fringilla Papa Kittl. Nov. Act. Petersb. pi. 
15. 
Geospiza Gould.f 
Bill large, robust, higher at the base than long, ^\\X\\ the culmen arched, and much advanced on the 
forehead into a point ; the sides compressed, the lateral margin shghtly sinuated and much angulated at 
the base ; the lower mandible very large, Ijroad at the base, with the gonys angulated, and advancing 
upwards to the tip ; and the nostrils l)asal, and partly covered by the frontal plumes. Wings moderate, 
with the first quiU rather shorter than the second, Avhich is the longest. Tail very short, and shghtly 
rounded. Tarsi strong, rather shorter than the middle toe. Toes long, robust, the lateral ones equal ; 
the hind toe longer than the inner, and robust ; claws strong and cun'ed. 
These birds are pecidiar to the Galapagos Archipelago. " They frequent," says Mr. Darwin, " the rocky and ex- 
tremely arid parts of the land, sparingly covered with almost naked bushes near the coasts; for here they find, by 
scratching in the cindcry .soil with their powerful beaks and claws, the seeds of grasses and other plants, which rapidlv 
* This division was established by Brisson (Ornithologie) in I76O. 
t Mr. Gould established (Proc. Zool. Soc. p. 5.) this genus in 1837 ; and the following genera were proposed at the same time. 
