COCCOTHRAUSTES COCCOTHRAUSTES 201 



whitish, inner ones yellowish-brown ; middle pair of rectrices pale brown, 

 slightly tipped with white, remaining pairs black, broadly tipped on the 

 inner web with white ; underparts vinous, except the middle of abdomen, 

 crissum and under tail-coverts, which are white. 



Iris brown ; bill bluish-black ; feet flesh colour. 



Total length 7 inches, wing 3-95, culmen -75, tarsus -90. 



Adult female rather duller in colouring than the male. 



Observations. — In winter the bill of this species becomes a light flesh 

 colour and the plumage is rather duller. 



The Hawfinch is not a very common bird in Tunisia, and its 

 range seems to be more or less restricted to the country north of 

 the Atlas, although it is occasionally to be met with in the southern 

 districts during the winter months. I have a note of its occurrence 

 as far south as Tatahouine, but have no knowledge of the species 

 breeding anywhere south of the Atlas. North of these mountains 

 I think there can be no doubt that it nests, although perhaps not in 

 any numbers, as I have a specimen obtained in the Medjerdah Valley 

 on May 14th, and notes of its occurrence in summer in that district. 



In Algeria Dr. Koenig seems to have found this species remarkably 

 abundant at Batna, the birds actually coming into the town in large 

 numbers, presumably in order to feed i;pon the ripening seeds of some 

 elm-trees (J. f. 0. 1896, p. 127). In Marocco Mr. Meade-Waldo 

 met with a few Hawfinches at Sould-Jedid in the Atlas, but the 

 species was evidently not common in those districts, as he never saw 

 any others (Ibis, 1903, p. 202). According to Colonel Irby (Orn. Strs. 

 Gib. p. 124), Favier found the Hawfinch "very rare near Tangier," 

 while on the Spanish side of the Straits it is " very common and most 

 plentiful in winter." This agrees with my experience in Sicily, 

 wliere the Hawfinch is abundant in autumn and winter. The Sicilian 

 vernacular name of scaccia-mennuU, a corruption of the Italian 

 Schiaccia-mandorla, or almond-cracker, has been given to the bird 

 on account of its supposed partiality for this fruit, which is plentiful 

 in the island. The Hawfinch's powerful bill is certainly capable of 

 cracking any nut, no matter how hard it may be, and the bird 

 subsists largely upon the kernels of stone-fruit, but it also feeds on 

 softer seeds and berries, and occasionally upon insects and grubs. 

 In spite of its size and rather striking appearance the Hawfinch is 



