PYRENESTES FRONTALIS.
DIMENSIONS.
Inches. Lines.
Length from the point of the bill to Length of the tarsus ....
the tip of the tail........... ... 7 4 of the outer toe .
of the bill from the angle of of the middle toe.
the mouth .. ................. ... 0 9 of the inner toe .
of the wings when folded... 3 9 of the hinder toe .
of the tail............................. 0
The colours of the other sex not known.
Inches. Lines.
1 1*
0 5
0 9
0 6
0 5
(Bird o f the Second year. Plate LXII a.)
Colour;—-The front, the head, and the neck dull orange-coloured brown,
the feathers margined with yellowish brown ; the interscapulars, back, and
rump umber-brown, the feathers tipped with yellowish brown. The lesser
wing coverts, the quill coverts, and the quill and tail feathers dark liver-
brown, with light sienna-coloured tips, the base of wing feathers white. The
breast, belly, vent, and under tail coverts dirty chocolate-red, the feathers
edged and tipped with pale cream-yellow. Bill at base and tip liver-brown,
elsewhere pale orange-yellow. Legs and toes liver-brown.
(Young bird. Plate LXII b.)
Above dusky orange-coloured brown, the feathers narrowly margined with
pale yellowish brown; below white, freely blotched with chocolate-red, the
blotches in the form of longitudinal stripes, one along the middle of each feather.
Quill and tail feathers dirty brownish-red, the outer vanes faintly
edged with yellowish brown ; no white at the base of the quill feathers,
hence the white speculum, found in the adult, is absent. The tip of the
upper and the base of both mandibles livid liver-brown, elsewhere the bill is
nearly of a Dutch-orange colour.
This is the only species of the groupe which has yet been found in South Africa. Its bill is
very powerful, and is, with regard to size and strength, unapproached by any of the other
F rin g illid c e of that country. Owing to the sides being moderately compressed, or at all
events, not so convex as in the larger-billed species of the tribe, it exhibits a peculiar description
of culmen, being especially towards its base broad and perfectly flat; this appearance it
presents for more than half its length, and anteriorly, is separated on each side from the lateral
parts of the bill by a well defined longitudinal groove, which originates on the inner side of the
anterior extremity, of the nostrils.
Most of the F r in g il lid a of South Africa_resort to localities which abound in brushwood or
dwarf trees. Py re n es te s f r o n ta lis , on the other hand, inhabits exclusively the forests, and
never condescends to visit but the largest trees, hence it is only very partially scattered over
the country. The only specimens which have been obtained within the limits of the Cape
Colony were discovered in the forests upon the eastern frontier. About Port Natal, however,
the bird is not so rare, and specimens are readily to be obtained there at all seasons of the year.
It feeds principally upon berries and small fruits.