FRINGILLID.E— FINCHES. 



113 



blackish-brown, edged with dirty white ; over each eye there is a light stripe, 

 and the sides of the neck are light ; bill and legs horn-colour. Mr. J. H. Gur- 

 ney, jun., who has also inspected the bird, is inclined to think it may be a female 

 Cape Canary. He writes : " It resembles a very large hen Serin, with a darker 

 crown, and darkish ' whiskers.' There is no yellow anywhere, except on the 

 rump, and very little there." Mr. Backhouse, who has also seen the specimen, 

 thinks it maybe a hybrid Serin of some kind. About this specimen Mr. G. E. 

 Lodge writes (40. xiii. 29) : — 



" A short time ago, hearing of some ' English Wild Canaries ' at a bird- 

 stuffer's at Saffron Walden, I went to see what they miglit be, and here give a 

 description of them. One, which was living in a cage with some Redpolls 

 and a Twite, looked almost exactly like a hen Siskin, except that it had a 

 very short and stout beak almost like that of a Bullfinch. A light yellow 

 stripe over the eye was very conspicuous. This bird was caught near Saffron 

 Walden. The others, (there were two more) were stuffed, and the owner told 

 me that one of them was caught near London, and had been living in the 

 Zoo. This was a much more gaily-coloured bird than the living one. The 

 forehead, throat, sides of neck just behind the auriculars, and breast being bright 

 greenish-yellow, with a few dark streaks on the flanks. The back was much 

 greyer than a cock Siskin's, with dark streak down centre of each feather, 

 getting yellowish-green lower down, and tail-coverts the same colour as the 

 back ; top of head plain greyish-green. I suppose they were cock and hen 

 Serin Finch ; but as I have never before seen a specimen of this bird I am not 

 certain about them." 



Greenfinch : Ligurinus Moris. Locally, " Green Linnet." 

 An abundant resident. 



The Rev. J. C. Atkinson 

 writes (36. 78) that in a thick 

 thorn hedge " bordering an 

 orchard in Essex, of perhaps 

 seventy or eighty yards long, 

 1 found one day a dozen or 

 more of Greenfinches' nests, 

 almost all with eggs in." 



iVIr. J. H. Hills, of Prested 

 Hall, Peering, has a specimen 

 of a mixed white, creamy, and 

 bright yellow colour, shot 

 there by himself in December, 

 1874- ■ • • 'A* "**"''--«.-^^^^.>&v- 



GREENFINCH, IllaiC, j/3. 



Hawfinch : Coccothrmistes vulgaris. 



A resident, and a much commoner one than is usually sup- 



I 



