9
CHAUNOPROCTUSBp.
- Chaunoproctus Bonaparte, Consp. Av. I p. 526 (1850).
The genus Chaunoproctus contains only one species, which is characterized by its enormous bill, the depth of the mandible being greater than the distance between the nasal apertures. The cutting-edge of the maxilla is nearly straight, and there is no tooth in the posterior half of the maxilla. The total length is about seven to eight inches. The adult male has red in the plumage, the female is brown, above and below.
Dr. Hartert (Vögel pal. Fauna I, p. 115) is of opinion that this bird is connected with Carpodacus and allies, and not with the Greenfinches and Hawfinches, among which it is placed in the Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum.
CHAUNOPROCTUS FERREOROSTRIS(VIG.)
(Plate 3, Fig. 4.)
- Coccothraustes ferreorostris (sic) Vigors, Zool. Journ. IV p. 354 (1828); id. in Beechey's Voy. Blossom, p. 22, pl. 8 (1839).
- Fringilla papa Kittlitz, Mém. Acad. Imp. Sc. Petersbourg I p. 239, pl. 15 (1830); id. Kupfertaf. Vög. p. 24, pl. 32, 2 (1832).
- Chaunoproctus papa Bonaparte, Consp. I p. 526 (1850); Bp. and Schlegel, Monogr. Loxiens p. 32 pls. 37, 38 (1850).
- Chaunoproctus ferreirostris Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. XII p. 31 (1888).
Vigors' original description, translated from the Latin, is as follows: "Dark brown; head, breast and upper part of abdomen scarlet. Bill very strong, feet plumbeous. Length of body 8½, bill ⅞, at gape 13⁄16, height ⅞; wings from the carpus to the third quill 4½; tail 3, tarsus ⅞ inches."
In the "Catalogue of Birds," XII, p. 31, both sexes are carefully described.
It appears that only one pair, now in the British Museum, was obtained during Captain Beechey's voyage. Curiously enough, Vigors suggested that the brilliantly coloured adult male might be the young, the female the adult bird, "as is the case in the Pine-Grosbeak" (Sic!).
Kittlitz, who visited the largest of the Bonin Islands in May, 1828, obtained a number of specimens, of which some are in St. Petersburg, two in Frankfurt-a.-M., one or two in Leyden, and, I believe, in Paris.
