19 A. Morrison—The Genus Sporophila


Lineated Finch (S. americana)


Male. —Lower back and rump, ashy grey flecked with black ;

rest of upper surface, lores, sides of face, and ear coverts, glossy black

with greenish sheen ; ash grey margins to upper-tail coverts ; lower

eyelid, spot below each eye, cheeks, chin, throat, under-tail coverts,

centre of breast and belly, white ; sides of breast and band across fore¬

neck, black ; sides of body, grey ; thighs, blackish grey; wing feathers,

black, with whitish-grey edges to the lesser coverts, and white tips

to the other coverts ; bases of inner webs of inner primaries white,

forming a speculum ; tail feathers, black, with narrow, grey edges

to the ends ; iris, dark ; bill, lead grey, whitish towards tip ; feet, black.


Juvenile Male. —Undescribed, but probably like female with grey bill.


Female. —Above, olive brown, slightly rusty on the rump ; lores

and eye region, whitish grey ; ear coverts, pale olive brown, streaked

with whitish-grey ; under surface, yellowish-buff ; centre of breast and

abdomen, whitish, tinged with yellow ; wing coverts, quills, and tail

feathers, dusky brown, edged with paler brown ; iris, dark ; bill and

feet, horn brown.


Habitat. —Guiana, Amazonia, and Tobago.


References. —Russ, p. 570. Butler, p. 146. Neunzig, p. 236. Bird

Notes, vol. vii, p. 263.


In its native land the Lineated Finch is ubiquitous, living both

in the high-lying, grassy plains, and in the damp lowlands. It is very

rarely imported. The Berlin Zoo had it in 1913 and some were imported

to England in 1909. The London Zoo has had it.


Spectacled Finch (S. ophthalmica)


Male. —Upper surface, glossy black, lower back and rump, white,

but mottled with black and grey ; lores and sides of head, black, with

a tiny white spot below eye ; cheeks, throat, and sides of neck, white ;

fore-neck crossed by a black band, widening out on the sides of the

chest ; breast and abdomen, white, as well as the sides of body and

flanks ; latter mottled with black ; thighs, under-tail coverts, under¬

wing coverts, and axillaries, white, with a small patch of black near

the edge of the wing ; lesser wing coverts, black, edged with white ;

the others, black, with white streaks along the edges of the ends of the



