142 



BBITISH BIRDS 



moss, and wool, lined with hair and fur. The eggs are five or six 

 in number, and are like the linnet's in colour. 



In autumn the twites unite in large flocks, and visit the stubbles 

 and ploughed lands. 



BullfincL 

 P)Trhula europaea 



--v/ 



JU±. 



Fig. 49.— Bullfinch. ^ natural size. 



Crown, throat, region round the beak, wings, and tail lustrous 

 purple-black ; upper part of the back bluish ash ; ear-coverts, sides 

 of the neck, breast, and belly red ; lower tail-coverts dull white ; a 

 broad buff and grey band across the wing. Length, six and a 

 quarter inches. 



The bullfinch stands out among British finches with a strange 

 distinctness. He is gaily coloured, and the arrangement of colours 

 is a striking one — glossy black, blue-grey, and pure white above, 

 and a fine red beneath. This is described in the books as • brick- 

 red ' ; and there is no doubt that, among the thousand and more 

 shades of the less vivid red seen in bricks taken fresh from the kiln, 

 the exact tint of the bullfinch might be matched. In the same way 

 you could match the most delicate floral red — that which we see in 

 the spikes of the red horse-chestnut, and the almond blossom, and the 

 briar rose. The earthy, imiform red of weathered bricks is not the 



