312 
ARKANSAW SISKIN. 
The Arkansaw siskin is four inches and a quarter long ; the 
bill is yellowish, tipped with blackish ; the feet are flesh co- 
lour ; the irides, burnt umber. The top of the head is blue 
black ; the cheeks are dusky olivaceous ; the neck above, and 
half its side, the back and rump, are olivaceous, more or less 
intermixed with dusky and yellowish, particularly on the rump; 
the superior taihcoverts are black, varied with olivaceous ; all 
the under parts, from the very base of the bill to the under tail- 
coverts, inclusively, are of a pure bright yellow. The wings are 
brownish black, the smaller wing- coverts being very slightly 
tinged with blue, and edged with olivaceous; the greater 
wing-coverts are tipped 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 emarginated, the fea- 
thers being blackish, slightly edged with dull whitish ; the 
three exterior ones are widely pure white on the middle of 
their inner w^ebs. 
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 European siskin [Friu’- 
gilla spinus), and the Olivarez (FringiUa Magellanica, Vieill.) 
of South America ; and it is so similar to the European, that 
it might, with a much greater degree of propriety, be consi- 
dered 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 
