fringilline

One of the most characteristic forms of Argentine Fringillidæ is Poospiza, of which seven species are met with within the limits of the Republic, while Lophospingus, Donacospiza, Gubernatrix, and Saltatricula are Fringilline types peculiar to Argentina.

It is very abundant on the Rio Negro, especially in the immediate neighbourhood of the Carmen settlements, for, like the Chingolo and other fringilline species, it is beneficially affected by cultivation.

The song of the male is very pleasing, the voice having more depth and mellowness than is usual with the smaller fringilline singers, which, as a rule, have thin, reedy, and tremulous notes.

The peculiar form Phytotoma, remarkable for its toothed Fringilline bill, was associated by the older authors with the Finches.

Serin, ser′in, n. a small fringilline bird like the canary.—n.