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Female. — Resembles the male, ex- 

 cept that her head is gray brown, 

 uniform with the back, and the black 

 of the wings and tail is duller. 



Distribution. — China generally. Re- 

 sident in the Yangtse Valley, but much 

 more common in winter. 



Nest and Eggs. — The nest is usually 

 placed on the horizontal limb of a 

 large tree. It is a well built cup of 

 leaves and grass, cemented together 

 with mud, with an outer covering of 

 twigs and roots, and an inner lining of 

 fine roots and leaves. There are from 

 four to six light olive green eggs, 

 marked with dark brown and gray. 



Notes. — Many small flocks of these 

 birds come south in October and 

 remain until April. They feed on the 

 ground, cracking seeds with their 

 heavy bills. When alarmed the whole 

 flock springs away together on whirring 

 wings. 



The Masked Hatvfinch (Eophona per- 

 sonata magnirostris) is larger than the 

 Black-headed Hawfinch, and has only 

 the top of the head, the forehead, 

 and chin black, otherwise it is very 

 similarly marked. It occurs as a 

 migrant in the Yangtse Valley. This 

 bird is often kept by the Chinese as a 

 pet, and is readily taught simple tricks. 



Another quite similar bird, also a 

 migrant in the Yangtse Valley, is the 

 Japanese form of the Commo7i Hatv- 

 finch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes 

 japonicus). It has a larger, heavier 

 bill than the other two Hawfinches, the 

 face is black as in the Masked 

 Hawfinch, but the tail is brown, and 

 not black, as in both the other two. 



