Buntings and New World Sparrows (Emberizidae)

Sooty-faced Finch (Arremon crassirostris) - HBW 16, p. 579

French: Tohi masqué German: Dickschnabel-Buschammer Spanish: Cerquero Carisucio
Other common names: Sooty-faced/Barranca Brush-finch, Barranca Finch

Taxonomy: Buarremon crassirostris Cassin, 1865, Barranca, Costa Rica.
Often placed in genus Lysurus; on basis of similarities in molecular data, plumage, voice, behaviour and micro-habitat, this genus, and also, Buarremon, now subsumed in present genus. Probably forms a superspecies, and sometimes considered conspecific, with A. castaneiceps. Proposed race eurous (described from Cerro Tacarcuna, in E Panama), supposedly duller and with darker crown, known from only a single specimen; considered untenable. Monotypic.

Distribution: Mountains of C Costa Rica (Aguacate Mts) S through Panama (Bocas del Toro, Chiriquí, Veraguas, Coclé and E Darién) to adjacent W Colombia (Cerro Tacarcuna).