Plate XLIII.
Tisserin des Gallapagos, (île St. Charles,) Neboux, Revue Zoologique, 1840, p. 291.
C. Mas (jun?) corpore suprà fuliginoso, (gutture abdomineque exceptis,) cinereo marginatis; rostro pallidè rufescenti-brunneo; pedibus nigrescenti-brunneis.
Long. tot. 5½ unc.; rostri, ¾; alæ, 2¾; caudæ, 1¾; tarsi, ¾.
Upper surface of the body sooty black, margined with cinereous, as well as the throat and abdomen; the bill pale rufous brown; the feet blackish brown.
Habitat, Galapagos Archipelago.
I do not know from which island of the group this species was procured; almost certainly not from James Island. Analogy would in this case, as in that of Camarhynchus crassirostris, lead to the belief that the old male would be jet black. By a mistake this bird has been figured standing on the Opuntia Darwinii, a plant from Patagonia, instead of the O. Galapageia. I may here mention that a third and well characterized species of Cactornis has lately been sent by Captain Belcher, R.N. to the Zoological Society; as Capt. Belcher visited Cocos Island, which is the nearest land to the Galapagos Archipelago, being less than 400 miles distant, it is very probable that the species came thence.
Sub-Genus.—CERTHIDEA. Gould.
Certhidea differt a genere Geospiza rostro graciliore et acutiore; naribus basalibus et non tectis; mandibulæ superioris margine recto; tarsis longioribus et gracilioribus.
Of the foregoing sub-genera, Geospiza, Camarhynchus and Cactornis belong to one type, but with regard to Certhidea, although Mr. Gould confidently believes it should also be referred to the same division, yet as in its slighter form and weaker bill, it has so much the appearance of a member of the Sylviadæ, he would by no means insist upon the above view being adopted, until the matter shall have been more fully investigated.