22 



British Birds. 



The Pink Finch. 



Thk Pine FitozniPinicola euucleatov). 

 This fine bird is an accidental visitor to 

 Great Britain, and it is only occasionally 

 that the species wanders from its native 

 pine-woods in the North of Europe and 

 Asia to Central Europe. It is one of 

 those species known as ' circumpolar,' 

 occurring near the Arctic Circle in both 

 the Old and New Worlds, and nesting 

 only in these high latitudes. 



In form the Pine Finch is ver}' like a 

 Bullfinch, and has the same thick-set 

 head and bill, but it has not the black head 

 of the latter bird. The sexes differ totally in colour, the female Pine Finch being 

 grey with only a little yellow in the plumage, whereas the male has a fine rosy or 

 crimson colour. In winter the Pine Finches assemble in flocks, which pair off for 

 the summer. The food of the bird consists of seeds of pine, fir cones and berries. 

 The nest is like that of the Bullfinch to a certain extent. It is, however, larger and 

 is very neatly made of twigs and grasses, with a few rootlets and fine grass-stems in 

 the lining. The outside net-work of lichen-covered pine-twigs is very pretty, and is 

 constructed in the same style as that of the Bullfinch, but the twigs are rather 

 closely and firmly intertwined. The eggs are greenish blue with tiny spots and 

 larger blotches of brown, distributed over their surface, the stronger markings being 

 chiefly at the larger end of the egg. 



The bill \n this sub-family of 

 birds is generally more acute 

 than in the F"inches or the 

 Grosbeaks, and the angle of 

 the ' genys,' as the outline of the lower edge of the 

 under mandible is called, is much more marked. 

 Some Buntings have a distinct gap in the bill, the 

 mandibles not meeting along their whole line, 

 while in man}' species a round knob is found in the 

 roof of the palate, which has been supposed to be 

 of use to the birds in crushing up the grain on 

 which so many of them feed. 



The Reed Bunting (Emheriza scha nidus \. 

 This species is widelj' distributed throughout Great 

 Britain, and is found in many situations near 

 water, frequenting the sides of rivers, brooks or 

 ponds. The female, which is much browner and 



THE BUNTINGS. 



Sub-Family 



EMBERIZIN.E. 



The RKi-.n Blntixg. 



