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M E I J O D I O U S , o r CUBA PTNCH.A,?.
T H E MELODIOUS FINCH.
Plwnipara canorn, BONAP.
^j^iHE Melodious Finch is a native of Cuba and belongs to a genus which, according
to Dr. Sharpe, contains four distinct species, and two tolerably well-marked
races. The Melodious Pinch is the type of the genus (that is to say the species
upon winch the genus was originally erected.*)
The adult cock bird above is of a yellowish green colour, the back of the
neck a little brighter; the crown of the head slate-grey iu front, shading off into
green at the back; the base of the forehead, lores, feathers round the eye, ear-coverts
and cheeks black; a golden yellow eyebrow; the primary coverts and flight feathers
dusky, the primaries yellow externally, the remainder yellowish green- tail feathers
dusky, olivaceous yellow externally; throat black; sides of ueck and a collar across
the lower part of the throat golden yellow; under parts slate-grey, paler on the
breast and whitish on the abdomen; under tail-coverts yellowish white with the
base of the feathers pale grey; under wing coverts yellowish white, the ed^e of
the wing olivaceous yellow; quills below dusky with greyish white inner margins
ivength a.t, inches. . ®
The hen differs from the cock in the absence of black colouring from the face
throat and breast; on the face and throat it is replaced by chestnut brown; the
crown of the head greyish brown; no yellow collar across the throat
^ The nearly allied Olive Pinch fP. kpidaj, which inhabits the Greater Antilles
IS thus distinguished by Dr. Sharpe, "A yellow eyebrow as well as a loral spot
and the chin; lower throat black. Black on the throat restricted to the fore neck
and never extending on the face as far as the region below the eye. It seems
necessary to quote these distinctions, because both birds occur in Cuba and are
occasionally imported, though the Melodious Pinch is best known.
- When the ctescnber of a new genus include., in it several distinct species and does not state ^vh.ch is tha type
v i l d • 7 , • Th e r e f o r e , if a genus is subseqnen ly ub
dtvtded, the typtcal speces must still be left in that subdivision which retains the original generic name.
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