230 THE GOLDFINCH. 



which combined the crimson flourish with the grey pole of the nestling. 

 In this garb Carduelis elegans would appear to be returning to a primitive 

 type. i.e., to that of the ancestor which it perhaps shares with orient- 

 alls. In orientalis, the white and black of our goldfinch's head are 

 replaced by ashen grey. The Himalayan goldfinch, common at Simla 

 and elsewhere, is considerably smaller than orientalis, and possesses a 

 brighter and more vivid scarlet face. But it docs not appear to be 

 absolutely certain whether orientalis and carriceps are distinct. I 

 must reserve my own opinion until I have consulted a sufficient series 

 of skins. 



The ciimson face of our normally plum aged adult goldfinch, 

 probably appears in the females before the males. The assumption of 

 this colour in confinement is a matter of " pain and grief " to many 

 finches. The comparative absence of sunlight within houses may 

 affeci the tint of the " flourish." It is brighter in caged goldfinches, 

 moulted out in the open-air. than in caged goldfinches moulted in-doors. 

 In wild or caged goldfinches the crimson is brightest during the 

 breeding season. Mr. Darbey is inclined to think that the goldfinch, 

 like the bullfinch and kingfisher, loses some brilliancy or gloss of 

 plumage after death. 



The chief external sexual differences are the small size and dull 

 tints of the female, her smaller and less pointed bill, the grej ness both 

 of her muzzle and of her " shoulders." The latter may be judiciously 

 coated with sufficient blacking to deceive the unwary, so that it is 

 well to rub it carefully ! The crimson flourish, as a rule, terminates 

 in the female before passing behind the eye, whereas it always passes 

 well behind the eye in the male. So much difference exists, even 

 among males, in size and colour, that goldfinches have often been 

 divided into "woodland" and '"garden finches," "elm tree," "pear 

 tree," and " cherry " finches, according to the trees they respectively 

 breed in. The strongest contrast in size I have seen was beta 

 Irish goldfinch, no bigger than a siskin, and one of the large, very 

 white-faced German goldfinches. As I remarked the other day, these 

 German finches often lack the silvery tipping to the secondaries, 

 equally well marked in immature and mature south coast goldfinches 

 of the migratory race. Of the five classes of abnormal plumage, 

 which I think that Mr. Blake Knox has described in the " Zoologist," I 

 have not seen or even heard of the 'cinnamon," though the linnet 

 often exhibits a cinnamon phase. But before we discuss the more 

 usual abnormalities, I wish to point out to you that the colour of the beak 

 of the goldfinch varies seasonably. This specimen which I hold in my 

 hand, was probably killed in autumn or winter, because the beak, as 

 you see, is deeply tinged with black. As summer advances, the dark 

 colour gradually disappears, until by the middle of the breeding season 

 it has become as •' clean as a whistle," i.e., of an entirely pink colour. 

 Similar changes are exhibited by many birds. Thus Bpecies so 

 divergent as the hawfinch and the snow hunting exhibit, in summer, 



bills of decidedly dark blue, whereas in winter they have grej and 



