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ARKANSAW SISKIN.
base of the billWto the under tail coverts inclusively, are of a pure
bright yellow. The wings are brownish-black, the smaller wing
coverts being very slightly tinged with blue, and edged with oliva-
ceous; the greater wing coverts are tipped with white, which forms
a narrow band across the wing; the primaries, excepting the exte-
rior one,' are slightly edged with white; the third, fourth, fifth,
sixth, and seventh,' are white towards the base, so as to exhibit a
white spot beyond the wing coverts; the first four primaries. are
nearly equal in length, the fifth is a quarter of an inch shorter; the
secondaries are broadly margined with white exteriorly, towards
their tips. The tail is slightly emarginated, the feathers being
blackish, slightly edged with dull whitish; the three exterior ones
are widely pure. white on the middle of their inner webs..
The specimen we have just described is a male, evidently in
perfect plumage; the female, and state of imperfect plumage, are
unknown; but, without risking any great deviation from the truth,
we may state, from analogy, that the young resemble the female,
which must be destitute of the black cap, and have the colours
less vivid and less pure.
The Arkansaw Siskin certainly resembles the American Gold-
finch in its winter dress; but a still more striking similarity exists
in some other birds, such as the European Siskin (Fringilla spi-
nus), and the'Olivarez (Fringilla magellanica, Vieill.) of South
America; and it is so similar to the European, that it might with
a much greater 'degree of propriety be considered as a variety,
than those regarded as such by authors. They can, however, be
easily distinguished by the following comparative characters: all
the under parts of the Arkansaw Siskin are bright yellow, whilst
the corresponding parts of the European Siskin are tinged with
greenish, the throat being black, and the belly, vent, and flanks
whitish, spotted longitudinally with black; the margins and spots
of the wing and tail feathers are white in our bird, and yellow in
the European Siskin; the white spots on the tail of the Arkansaw
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