ARKANSAW SISKIN. 
55 
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 oliva¬ 
ceous; the greater wing coverts are tipped with white, which forms 
a narrow band across the wing; the primaries, excepting the exte¬ 
rior 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 feathers being 
blackish, slightly edged with dull whitish; the three exterior ones 
are widely pure white on the middle of their inner webs. 
The specimen we have just described is a male, evidently in 
perfect plumage; the female, and state of imperfect plumage, 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 Gold¬ 
finch in its winter dress; but a still more striking similarity exists 
in some other birds, such as the European Siskin (.Fringilla spi- 
nus), and the Olivarez [Fringilla magellanica, Vieill.) of South 
America; and it is so similar to the European, that it might with 
a much greater degree of propriety be considered 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 Siskin are bright yellow, whilst 
the corresponding parts of the European Siskin are tinged with 
greenish, the throat being black, and the belly, vent, and flanks 
whitish, spotted longitudinally with black; the margins and spots 
of the wing and tail feathers are white in our bird, and yellow in 
the European Siskin; the white spots on the tail of the Arkansaw 
