Hooded Seedeater

The Kapuzenpfäffchen ( Sporophila melanops ) is a species of bird in Brazil, of which only the male type specimen from 1823 is known. The specimen was caught in October 1823 by Josef Natterer from a swarm of other finches on the edge of a lake 15 km north of Registro do Araguaia in the Araguaia River on the central western border of the state of Goiás in southern Brazil and is now in the Natural History Museum in Vienna. The species is possibly extinct, but it is also possible that it still exists, because the landscape in the vicinity of the locality is so far poorly understood and little changed.

The specimen has a body length of 11 cm and is so unusual colored, that it was held by some scientists alternately for a hybrid or an abnormal copy of the Gelbbauchpfäffchens ( Sporophila nigricollis ). The wing length is 55 mm, tail length 41 mm and the beak length 8 mm. The male has a black hood and throat. The top is olive color. The bottom shows a dirty brownish yellow. It was strong in the moult. The related Gelbbauchpfäffchen, in comparison to a pale yellow underside and the black coloration extends to the upper breast.

Described are the way until 1870 by the Austrian ornithologist August von Pelzeln.