This elegant bird has been so distorted, in the representations given of it by the older ornithologists, that little apology is thought necessary for introducing more accurate figures of both sexes in this publication. It is said to inhabit the Cape and various parts of India, causing much damage to the rice plantations, and is frequently brought to this country alive. The figure is of the size of life, the bill bright red, but whitish towards the tip; it is very strong, thickened round the basal margins, and forms a sharp angle between the frontal feathers: the nostrils are small, round, and placed behind the thick margin of the bill, and not on its outer surface. Legs flesh-coloured; the orbits are said to be red in the live bird.
FRINGILLA oryzivora,
Paddy bird, Rice bird, or Java Sparrow.
Generic Character.
- Rostrum breve, validum, crassum, rectum, conicum; mandibulæ; superioris gibbæ apice vix inflexo, integro; culminis convexi basi angulatâ. Nares basales, rotundæ, pone culminis basin positæ, plumulis vix obtectæ. Pedes sedentes. Alæ breves.
- Bill short, strong, thick, straight, conic; upper mandible swelled, the tip slightly inflexed, entire; culmine convex, the base angulated. Nostrils basal, round, placed behind the base of the culmine, and partially covered by the frontal feathers. Feet sitting. Wings short.
- Generic Types. Loxiæ Javensis, Braziliana. Emberiza principalis, cicris. Tanagria cærulea, &c. (Temminck.)
Specific Character.
- F. cana; capite caudâque nigris; rostro rubro; crisso roseo-albente; auribus (in maribus) niveis.
- Lead-coloured; head and tail black; bill red; belly obscure rosy; ears (in the male) snowy.
- Loxia oryzivora. Gm. I. 302. Lath. Ind. Orn. 1. 380. Gen. Zool. 9. 2. 316. Brisson, 1. 374. 7.
- Java Grosbeak. Lath. Syn. 3. 129. Supp. 151. Gen. Zool. 9. 316. pl. 51.
I have followed the example of Illiger and Temminck in uniting the greatest part of the Linnæan Loxiæ and Fringillæ under the latter genus, retaining only the Cross-bills under the former.