Arremon


Arremon is a genus of neotropical birds in the family Passerellidae. With the exception of the green-striped brushfinch which is endemic to Mexico, all species are found in South America, with a few reaching Central America.

These sparrows are found in lowland woodlands and forests where they usually forage on the ground. They have olive or grey upperparts with a black head. Many have a white line above the eye and some have a black band across the breast.[1]

The genus Arremon was erected in 1816 by the French ornithologist Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot in his Analyse d'une Nouvelle Ornithologie Élémentaire to accommodate the pectoral sparrow (Arremon taciturnus).[2] The name is from the Ancient Greek arrhēmōn meaning "silent" or "without speech".[3] The pectoral sparrow had been given the French name "L'Oiseau Silencieux" by the polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1779.[4][5]