142 FRINGILLID^. 



ness), only accidentally at very long intervals and in the 

 most severe winters. In the north of France its appearance 

 is more frequent, but is still characterized by great irregu- 

 larity, and probably the same may be said of it in Belgium 

 and Holland. In Denmark it is often very common from 

 November to March. 



In summer the bill of the cock is of a dark brownish horn- 

 colour, the lower mandible tinged with yellow at the base : 

 the irides dusky brown : the feathers covering the nostrils 

 brown ; lores and ear-coverts blackish-brown, mixed with 

 grey on the latter ; forehead to behind the eyes glossy blood- 

 red ; rest of the head, nape, mantle and upper wing-coverts 

 blackish-brown, mottled in some places, especially on the 

 neck, by the whitish edges of the feathers ; both middle and 

 greater wing-coverts tipped with greyish-white, forming two 

 conspicuous light bars of unequal length on the wing ; quills, 

 both of wings and tail, dusky, narrowly bordered with 

 greyish-white ; lower part of the back, rump and upper tail- 

 coverts blackish-brown, bordered with greyish- white, and 

 tinged with crimson on the last ; chin black ; throat, chest 

 and sides of the breast glossy rose-pink, mingled with white, 

 and more or less spotted and streaked with brownish-black ; 

 middle of the breast, belly and lower tail- coverts dull white ; 

 flanks greyish-white streaked with dusky brown : legs and 

 toes brown ; claws blackish-brown. 



After the autumnal moult and throughout the winter the 

 bill is yellow, with the point dusky : the feathers covering 

 the nostrils and those on the head immediately above the 

 bill are light yellowish-grey, the red cap not extending 

 quite so far forward ; all the rest of the feathers, except the 

 quills, more or less thickly bordered with long fringes of a 

 light yellowish-grey on the head, neck and mantle, but 

 on the lower part of the back, rump and belly of a nearly 

 pure white. These long fringes continue till past midwinter, 

 and, as already stated, in examples from high northern 

 localities almost entirely hide the darker parts of the feathers. 

 As spring advances they are slowly shed, and the crimson 

 tint of the rump and breast gradually appears, but the birds 



