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 pallidb rufescenti-brunneo ; pedibus nigrescenti-brunneis. 
Long. tot. unc. ; rostri, f ; alee , 2f ; caudoe , 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 Darwinii, 
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 ; t arsis 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. 
p 
