188 FRINGILL1D.E. 



turity is always expressed by the greater coverts, which have more 

 or less black at their bases. The white on the tail is also more 

 reduced in size, and is always strictly confined to the two outer 

 feathers. In old birds the third feather also has some white on the 

 inner web ; but this is not a constant character, and is sometimes 

 developed on one side of the tail and not on the other. 



The specimens from Teneriffe, collected by Mr. F. D. Godman, are 

 very small, and have the white tips to the quills and tail-feathers 

 nearly obsolete : but this is also somewhat due to the abrasion of the 

 feathers during the breeding-season, though it can scarcely be de- 

 veloped at any time to the same extent as in the specimens from 

 Europe. The single specimen procured by Mr. Godman in Madeira 

 has a great deal of yellow on the sides of the breast, which looks 

 like a variation in the direction of an incipient species. 



The female specimen procured by Sir 0. St. John near Shiraz has 

 the head ashy brown mottled with black ; and as it was obtained in 

 summer, it looks as if this variation were due to interbreeding with 

 C caniceps. 



As a rule English examples are more dingily coloured than those 

 from continental Europe, and the white parts are never so pure. 



Hab. Europe generally, except the extreme north. Canary 

 Islands, Madeira, and the countries bordering the Mediterranean. 

 A winter visitant to Egypt and Palestine. In Siberia it extends to 

 Omsk and Krasnoyarsk and winters in Turkestan. The birds from 

 Western Siberia are larger and whiter, but seem to me to constitute 

 only a larger race (O. major, Tacz.), with which the Goldfinch from 

 llussia will probably be found to be intermediate. 



a. c? ad. sk. Europe. Gould Coll. 



b. $ ad. sk. Orkneys (Dunn). R. B. Sharpe, Esq. [P.]. 



c. d. <S 2 ad-; e,f, Leicestershire. Theodore Walker, Esq. 

 y. Pull. st. [P.]. 



h. Ad. ; i, k. Pull. Cambridgeshire. Mr. J. Baker [C.]. 



st. 



I. $ ad.sk. Cambridgeshire (J. Baler). Salvin-God man Coll. 



m. Ad. sk. Cambridgeshire, Jan. 18b'0 Salvin-Godman Coll. 



(J. Baker), 



n. Juv. st. Saffron Walden, Essex. J. Clark, Esq. [P.]. 



o, p. 6 2 ad. ; Norfolk, June. Lord Walsingham [P.]. 



q-t. Juv. st. 



u. Var. mel. London. Dr. Leach [P.]. 



v, to. Ad.sk. Hampstead, Nov. 18, 1869. Hume Coll. 



x. Ad.; y. Iumi. sk. Sydenham, May lb69. Hume Coll. 



z. tf ad. sk. Surrey, Jan. 1857 (F. D. Salvin-Godman Coll. 



G.). 



a 1 . Var. sk. Brighton. Purchased. 



//. Juv. sk. Brighton, Aug. 1882. R. B. Sharpe, Esq. [P.]. 



c', d'. cJ 2 ad. sk. Lancing, Sussex, Nov. II. B. Sharpe, Esq. [P.J. 



1883. 



e'. Juv. sk. Shoreham, July 1884. R. B. Sharpe, Esq. [P.]. 



/'. S ad. sk. Cookham, Berks, Dec. 28, 11. B. Sharpe, Esq. [P.]. 



1.^74. 



<i ' . 2 a d- sk. Cookham, Berks. Nov. 17, Hume Coll. 



1869. 





