GOLDEN-CROWNED CANARY.[68] _Crithagra Brasiliensis._ _Fringilla Brasiliensis_, +Spix+.—Av. Bras. pl. 61. [68] Length 5 inches, expanse 10, flexure 2⁹⁄₁₀, tail 2²⁄₁₀, rictus ⁵⁄₁₀, tarsus ¹⁷⁄₂₀, middle toe ⁷⁄₁₀. Irides dark hazel; feet horn-coloured; beak, upper mandible blackish, under pale horny. Male. Plumage above olive yellow; head lustrous orange, silky; whole under parts rich golden yellow. Wing and tail feathers dusky brown, with both edges broadly yellow. Female. Head and back yellowish grey, with black dashes: throat whitish; a broad collar of pale yellow encircles the neck; breast and belly greyish-white. In other respects as the male, but less vivid. Some males, (young?) have the upper plumage mingled with greyish ash, and the orange only on forehead and throat. This very beautiful Finch is rather common in the large park-like pastures of Mount Edgecumbe, Auchindown, Culloden, and Peter’s Vale, situated at the eastern extremity of Westmoreland. It is not at all shy, but hops about the grass, or flits to and fro among the pimento and orange trees, in parties of three or four, now and then sitting among the branches, and uttering a monotonous _chip, chip_, pertinaciously repeated by both sexes without variation. This is the only note I have heard from them. These birds are believed in Jamaica to be the descendants of some pairs of the common Canary turned out. “A gentleman of the colony named Shakspeare,” observes Mr. Hill, “many years ago, touching at Madeira on his voyage to this island, is said to have procured several male and female Canaries, which he set at large in the fields about the rectory at Black River, where they have multiplied, and have become wild birds of the country. Many of our grasses produce farinaceous seeds, extremely nutritious, and supply quite a substitute for the canary-seed of the African islands. I presume our birds derive their intensity of colour from this sort of food. They are a beautiful variety of the natural stock. Of their song I have never been able to learn anything very distinct, except that heard in the thickets with other birds, it sounds neither loud nor thrilling, and can barely be recognised as that of the bird of the aviary. It is said to have lost all its versatility with its power. Though these imported Canaries have increased so much, as to be perceptibly common, they are confined to a very small range of country, being observed nowhere but in the neighbourhood of the place where the first colony was established. A friend writes me, between Bluefields and Black River.”