Thick-billed Seedeater

SCI Name:  Crithagra burtoni
Protonym:  Strobilophaga burtoni Ann.Mag.Nat.Hist.(3), 10 p.445
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Fringillidae / Crithagra
Taxonomy Code:  thbsee1
Type Locality:  Cameroon Mountains, 7,000 ft., West Africa.
Author:  Gray, GR
Publish Year:  1862
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

CRITHAGRA
(Fringillidae; Ϯ Brimstone Canary C. sulphurata) Gr. κριθη krithē  barley; αγρα agra  hunting  < αγρεω agreō  to hunt; "CRITHAGRA.  Rostrum breve, sub-conicum, crassum, integrum; culmine arcuato; tomio curvato.  Alæ subelongatæ; remigibus 1^ma, 2^da, 3^tia, et 4^ta æqualibus, longissimis.  Cauda mediocris, subfurcata. ...  Types. Lox. sulphurata, flaviventris. Lath.  Africa only?" (Swainson 1827); "Crithagra Swainson, 1827, Zool. Journ., 3, p. 348. Type, by subsequent designation (Sharpe, 1888, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., 12, p. 348), Loxia sulphurata Linnaeus." (Rand in Peters, 1968, XIV, p. 208).
Var. Chrithagra, Grithagra.
Synon. Bolbospiza, Buserinus, Dendrospiza, Lormarinsia, Menellia, Microserinus, Neospiza, Ochrospiza, Phaeospiza, Poliospiza, Psammospiza, Pseudochloroptila, Serinops, Spodiospina, Tephrospiza.

burtoni
● Prof. Sir John Burton Cleland (1878-1971) Australian pathologist, mycologist, ornithologist (Laurent Raty in litt.) (syn. Acanthiza nana).
● Dr Philip John Kennedy Burton (b. 1936) English ornithologist, wild-life artist, collector (syn. Actenoides hombroni).
● Surgeon-Maj. Edward Burton (1790-1867) British Army, naturalist (Callacanthis).
● Capt. Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821-1890) English explorer (disguised as Al-Haj Abdullah, made pilgrimage to Mecca 1853), scholar, linguist (translated 'The Book of One Thousand and One Nights'), Consul at Fernando Póo 1861-1865, Santos 1865-1869, Damascus 1869-1871 and Trieste 1872 (Björn Bergenholtz in litt.) (syn. Caprimulgus vexillarius).
● "The following descriptions of a few birds, which appear new to the fauna of West Africa, may interest some of your readers. They were collected on the Cameroons Mountains, at an elevation of 7000 feet above the level of the sea. They were brought to this country by Mrs. Isabel Burton, the estimable lady of the distinguished traveller and Vice-Consul, Capt. Burton, and kindly presented by her to the British Museum" (G. Gray 1862) (Crithagra).
● "I dedicate this magnificent new species  ... to Mr. Walter Burton, of London, who had the kindness to dispose of it in my favour" (Boucard 1891) (OD per Björn Bergenholtz) (syn. Sephanoides sephaniodes).

SUBSPECIES

Thick-billed Seedeater (burtoni)
SCI Name: Crithagra burtoni burtoni
burtoni
● Prof. Sir John Burton Cleland (1878-1971) Australian pathologist, mycologist, ornithologist (Laurent Raty in litt.) (syn. Acanthiza nana).
● Dr Philip John Kennedy Burton (b. 1936) English ornithologist, wild-life artist, collector (syn. Actenoides hombroni).
● Surgeon-Maj. Edward Burton (1790-1867) British Army, naturalist (Callacanthis).
● Capt. Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821-1890) English explorer (disguised as Al-Haj Abdullah, made pilgrimage to Mecca 1853), scholar, linguist (translated 'The Book of One Thousand and One Nights'), Consul at Fernando Póo 1861-1865, Santos 1865-1869, Damascus 1869-1871 and Trieste 1872 (Björn Bergenholtz in litt.) (syn. Caprimulgus vexillarius).
● "The following descriptions of a few birds, which appear new to the fauna of West Africa, may interest some of your readers. They were collected on the Cameroons Mountains, at an elevation of 7000 feet above the level of the sea. They were brought to this country by Mrs. Isabel Burton, the estimable lady of the distinguished traveller and Vice-Consul, Capt. Burton, and kindly presented by her to the British Museum" (G. Gray 1862) (Crithagra).
● "I dedicate this magnificent new species  ... to Mr. Walter Burton, of London, who had the kindness to dispose of it in my favour" (Boucard 1891) (OD per Björn Bergenholtz) (syn. Sephanoides sephaniodes).

Thick-billed Seedeater (tanganjicae)
SCI Name: Crithagra burtoni tanganjicae
tanganicae / tanganjicae / tanganyicae / tanganyika / tanganyikae
Lake Tanganyika, east Africa.

Thick-billed Seedeater (kilimensis)
SCI Name: Crithagra burtoni kilimensis
kilimense / kilimensis
Kilima N’jaro / Mt. Kilimanjaro, Kenya/Tanzania.

Thick-billed Seedeater (albifrons)
SCI Name: Crithagra burtoni albifrons
albifrons
L. albus  white; frons, frontis  forehead, brow.
● ex “White-fronted Owl” of Latham 1787 (syn. Aegolius acadicus).
● ex “White-crowned Parrot” of Latham 1781 (Amazona).
● ex “Cola aguda vientre de canela” of de Azara 1802-1805, no. 234 (Donacospiza).
● ex “White-fronted Thrush” of Latham 1783 (syn. Miro australis).
● ex “White-faced Manakin” of Edwards 1764 (Pithys).