Zoological Illustrations/VolI-Pl7
CARDUELIS cucullata.
Hooded Seed-eater.
Generic Character.
- Rostrum breve, validum, conicum, rectissimum; mandibulis subæqualibus; apice immarginato, recto, acuto; mandibulâ superiore culmine convexâ; inferiore basi marginis angulatâ, utrinque subtusque convexâ.
Typus Genericus Fringilla Canaria. Lath., &c.
- Bill short, stout, very conic, without any curvature above; both mandibles nearly equal, the tip entire, straight and sharp; upper mandible convex above: lower one at the base of the margin with an obtuse angle, the sides and under part convex.
Generic Type Fringilla Canaria. Latham, &c.
Specific Character.
- C. aurantia: capite, gutture, fasciâ trans tectrices, remigibus caudâque nigris; remigibus primoribus basi obliquè aurantio fasciatis.
- Orange: head, front of the neck, bar across the wing-covers, quills and tail black; greater quills at their base obliquely barred with orange.
A richly coloured little bird, much smaller than our Goldfinch, and approaching very near to the Bouvreuil de Bourbon of Buffon, from which, however, I think it quite distinct. The only one I have yet seen is in the possession of E. Falkner, Esq. of Fairfield near Liverpool, who received it with a few other rare birds from the Spanish Main.
Total length four inches. Bill blackish and very sharp. The whole head and forepart of the neck is black. The plumage of the body is a fine reddish-orange, duller on the back and brightest beneath: wing-covers the same; the greater ones at their base black, which forms a bar: the quills are also black, the greater ones having at their base an oblique bar of orange, and some of the lesser ones slightly margined externally with white. Tail divaricated and black; some of the lateral feathers faintly margined with orange. Spurious wings black. Legs and claws brown.
The Bouvreuil de Bourbon, and the B. du Cap de Bonne Esperance of Buffon (Pl. Enl. pl. 204. fig. 1, 2.) appear to have been described as the different sexes of one bird (the Orange Grossbeak of Latham) on mere conjecture. I think them quite distinct, inhabiting different countries, and having all the appearance (in the figures) of being two male birds; for the females in this family seldom possess the rich colours of the male; and the figure of the last of these birds, has not the slightest habit of a female.
The present genus was formed by Cuvier, (though but very slightly defined,) and includes the common Goldfinch and Canary-bird.