Poephila

Poephila is an Australian genus of estrildid finches.

The adults have pinkish underparts, buff or brown upperparts, a black tail and lower belly, and white rumps uppertail coverts and undertail coverts. Males and females closely resemble each other, although the male is a little larger.

These are birds of dry open grassland, occurring from the north-west to the eastern coast of Australia. They glean seed from the ground or seed-heads of grasses, occasionally supplementing their diet with insects.

Taxonomy

The first description was presented to the Linnean Society by John Gould. and published in 1842. He assigned the species Poephila acuticauda as the type, a description he had published several years before as Amadina acuticauda, and gave a description for Poephila personata.

Species

The genus is recognised as containing the following species:

Image	Scientific name	Common Name	Distribution
File:Masked Finch 7355-2.jpg	Masked finch	Poephila personata	northern Australia, from the Kimberley, across the Top End, the Gulf country and the southern part of Cape York Peninsula, as far east as Chillagoe
File:Poephila acuticauda - Bird Walk.jpg	Long-tailed finch	Poephila acuticauda	Australia, from the Kimberley region to the Gulf of Carpentaria.
File:Black-throated Finch (Poephila cincta).jpg	Black-throated finch	Poephila cincta	north-east Australia from Cape York Peninsula to central Queensland

Further reading

• Clement, Harris and Davis, Finches and Sparrows Template:ISBN

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