322 PASSERINiE. 



a considerable extent dilatable so as to hold a quantity of food. 

 The stomach, being a very powerful gizzard, triturates the 

 grain with the aid of numerous particles of sand, generally sili- 

 ceous, but often of various mineral substances. The food being 

 highly nutritious, the moderately long and rather wide intes- 

 tine, which is villous in its whole length, suffices for the ela- 

 boration of the chyle, so that the coeca are merely rudimentary 

 and mucous. The foeces and urine are deposited in the ellip- 

 tical dilatation of the rectum, and voided in a soft state. 



These birds are active and lively ; in winter generally gre- 

 garious ; and at all seasons live together without exhibiting 

 any animosity, excepting for a short time in spring, when the 

 males often fight, although their combats are seldom obstinate. 

 They are easily tamed, even when caught in the adult state ; 

 and those of them which have an agreeable song, or are beau- 

 tifully coloured, are highly prized as domestic pets. 



Their flight is strong, more or less undulated, and generally 

 rapid. They perch with security, glide among the branches 

 with ease, and on the ground always move by short leaps, both 

 feet being simultaneously raised. Their vision is acute, but 

 they are not in general alarmed by distant objects, so that they 

 are easily approached within shot. As their food is obtained 

 chiefly on the ground, they frequent the open fields, retreat- 

 ing to trees and bushes when disturbed, and settling there at 

 night. 



Most of them breed more than once in the season, forming 

 an elaborate, rather bulky, deep, compact nest. The eggs vary 

 from four to eight, and are generally spotted, clouded, or lined. 

 The young are born blind, and are at first slightly covered with 

 dusky or greyish down. Their first plumage is, in the males, 

 ahvays different from that of the adult. The males are a little 

 larger than the females. 



The plumage is changed once in the year ; but as the feathers 

 are variously coloured, and the tips of their filaments are gra- 

 dually worn off or decay, the summer plumage is often par- 

 tially different in colour from that of winter. 



These birds are generally distributed over the country, and 

 are for the most part numerous. Many of them are peculiar 



