Loxia punctularia, LINNÆUS; Le Grosbec tacheté de Java,
BUFFON; Der getüpfelte Kernbeisser, BECHSTEIN.
This bird is the size of a linnet, about four inches and a quarter in
length. The beak and feet black; the whole of the upper part of the
body, and the lower, as far as the breast, chestnut brown; the cheeks
marked with a reddish purple tinge; the belly and sides white, but all
the feathers bordered with black in the form of a heart.
The female has no red tinge on the cheeks, the beak and feet are deep
brown; the sides white, tinged with deep brown: the back reddish brown.
OBSERVATIONS.--This species, which I have seen in the collection of
His Royal Highness the Duke of Saxe Meiningen, comes from Java; it is
kept in a cage and fed on canary seed. Its call is "_deguay_," its
feeble song somewhat resembles the siskin's.