PASSERINE. 



299 



(The Snow Finch.) Brown, mottled with a paler tint of the 

 same colour above; whitish beneath; head, ash coloured; co- 

 verts of the wings, and nearly all the secondary quills, white. 

 The throat of the male, black. From the rocks of the upper 

 Alps, where it only descends in the middle of winter to the lower 

 mountains. [*S'ee Jlpp. XX of Am. Ed.~\ 



Carduelis, Cuv. 



The Linnets and Goldfinches have an exactly conical beak without 

 the least convex protuberance at any point. They live on grain. 

 Those which have a little longer and more pointed beak are styled 

 Goldfinches. 



Fring. carduelis, L.; Enl. 4; Naum. 124, 1, 2. (The Common 

 Goldfinch.) One of the prettiest birds in Europe. Brown 

 above, whitish beneath; the mask of a beautiful red; a fine yellow 

 spot on the cheek, 8cc. It is also very docile, quickly learns to 

 sing and to play all kinds of tricks.(l) 



LiNARiA, Bechst. 



The Linnets also have an exactly conical beak, but it is shorter and 

 more obtuse than in the Goldfinches. They feed on seeds of plants; 

 those of flax and hemp in particular. 



There are some species in Europe, brown, tinted with red, which 

 are more peculiarly styled Linnets. The quantity of red in the young 

 birds and females is very various, and sometimes is totally wanting. 

 The beak of the first is almost as pointed as that of the Goldfinch. 

 It is, 



Fr. linaria, L. ;Ze Sisserin; Enl. 485, 2; Vieill. Gal. 65; Naum. 

 126. (The Redpoll.) Brown, spotted with black above; two 

 white bands across the wing; black throat; top of the head as 

 well as the breast of the adult male, red; the rump is sometimes 

 of the same colour. A northern bird, of which it is supposed 

 two races have lately been detected, a large and a small one.(2) 

 Fr. cannabina, L., Enl. 485, 1; Naum. 121. (The Linnet.) 

 Back, fawn coloured brown; quills of the wing and tail, black 



cristata, Enl. 181; the Dioch {Emb. quelea) Vieill. Ois. Chant. 23; the i)iocA 

 rose. Id., 24; Lox- capensls. The latter begins to approach the Grosbeaks. 



To these should be added, Pyr. orythrophthalma, Wils. II, pi. x, f. 5-^ P. iliaca, 

 Wils. Ill, p. xxii, f. xiv. Am. Ed. 



(1) Add, Fr. psittacea, Lath., Syn. II, p. 48; i^r. melha, Edw., 128 and 272; 

 Fr. coccinea, Vieill. Ois. ch. pi. xxxi; Fr. leucocephala, Lath. Id- 26; Fr. magel- 

 lanica. Id. 30. 



(2) See the Mem. de M. Vieillot, Acad, de Turin, torn, xxiii, p.' 193, et seq. 



