220 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 



except tliat one of them was deficient in interior lining. 

 Wlien found, I understand there was one egg in each 

 nest, but it was not ascertained whether the nests 

 belonged to two pairs of birds or only to one pair." 

 In the same volume of the "Zoologist" (p. 3388), Mr. 

 Gurney has also recorded the singular fact of a hybrid, 

 between the greenfinch and the common linnet (Linota 

 cannahina), having been captured in a wild state in this 

 county. This remarkable specimen was netted at Easton, 

 near Norwich, in 1851, by Mr. Edward Fountaine, and 

 was afterwards kept in confinement. An exactly similar 

 bird, now in my possession, was netted near this city by 

 a bird-catcher named Carr, in February, 1865, and ex- 

 hibits, in the most striking manner, the chief character- 

 istics, in plumage, of the greenfinch and coramon hnnet, 

 whilst the beak and general form of the bird is inter- 

 mediate between the two. So marked indeed are these 

 double features, that I felt certain, from the moment 

 I first saw it, that it could only be a hybrid between 

 the above named species; and Mr. Fountaine, who 

 examined it subsequently, recog-nised in it at once 

 the /etc simile of his own specimen. The following is as 

 accurate a description of its present appearance (May, 

 1865), as I am able to give in writing, and I am par- 

 ticularly anxious to keep it alive, to observe, if any, 

 and what changes may occur in its plumage. Its voice 

 even partakes of its double origin, the shrill call note of 

 the greenfinch being combined with the soft trill of the 

 linnet, as I have been able, satisfactorily, to determine, 

 the hybrid being kept, in a cage, close to my aviary, 

 in which both greenfinches and linnets are in full song. 

 Beak, bluish flesh-colour on the upper mandible, light 

 pink on the lower. Head, neck, and back hau'-brown, 

 with a greyish tinge on the sides of the neck and around 

 the eyes, Irides hazel. The colour of the back want- 

 ing the rich chesnut of the linnet in summer, but less 



