THE BIRD-LIFE OF LONDON 
bulky structure, and fairly well made. ‘The five or six 
eggs range from pale olive or bluish green to brownish 
buff, streaked and slightly spotted with dark olive-brown, 
pale greyish brown, and violet grey. ‘The pencillings are 
almost as intricate as those on the eggs of the Buntings. 
Throughout the nesting season the old birds are even 
more secretive and shy than at other times. But one 
brood is reared in the year ; and it is not unusual to find 
several pairs breeding in the same vicinity. 
‘The adult male Hawfinch has the head reddish brown, 
except the lores and the feathers at the base of the bill, 
which are black, like the throat ; the nape is ashy grey ; 
the back and scapulars are chestnut-brown, paler on the 
rump, and yellowish brown on the upper tail-coverts ; 
the wings are black shot with blue, except the median 
wing-coverts, which are white, and the outermost 
primaries, which have a large white patch on the inner 
web ; there is also some amount of greyish white on the 
others. A marked peculiarity is the truncated form of 
some of the secondaries, the ends of which are shaped 
like a billhook. ‘The tail is black, the four outer feathers 
having a terminal white spot on the inner web, the four 
centre ones narrowly tipped with white. The under 
parts are brown suffused with yellow, shading into white 
on the under tail-coverts. Bill black (in winter it changes 
to pinkish brown); tarsi and toes pale brown; irides 
greyish white. Length 7 inches. The female some- 
what closely resembles the male in colour, but is duller. 
The nestling resembles the adult in the wings and tail; 
there is no black on the throat and head, nor grey on the 
nape, the breast and flanks are barred with brown, and 
the head and upper parts are suffused with yellow. 
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