6 FRINGILLIDE. 



tliat the European Bullfinch was an inhabitant of Japan ; and 

 M. Tcmniinck includes it in his recent Catalogue of the 

 Birds of Europe found in that country. 



In the adult male the beak is of a shining black ; the 

 irides dark brown ; the whole of the top of the head jet 

 black ; nape of the neck, back, and lesser wing-coverts, deli- 

 cate bluish grey ; the greater wing-coverts black, the ends 

 white, forming a conspicuous bar across the wing ; the rump 

 above white ; upper tail-coverts black ; all the quill and tail- 

 feathers also black, tinged with blue, but the primary wing- 

 feathers not so dark as the tertials. The chin black ; ear- 

 coverts, sides of the neck, throat, breast, and belly, tile-red ; 

 vent and under tail-coverts white ; under surface of the wings 

 slate-grey ; under surface of the tail-feathers greyish black ; 

 legs, toes, and claws, purple brown. 



The whole lensrth of the bird rather more than six inches. 

 From the carpal joint to the end of the wing three inches and 

 one-eighth : the second, third, and fourth primaries, nearly 

 equal in length, and the longest in the wing ; the first and 

 fifth feathers are also equal in length, but each about one 

 eiohtli shorter than the second, third, or fourth. 



The female has the grey colour of the back more mixed 

 with brown ; the under surface of the body, Avhere the male is 

 red, is in her of a brownish purple red ; the head, wings, and 

 tail, not quite so pure a black. 



Young birds in their first feathers resemble the female, 

 but are without the black head. Some time after leaving the 

 nest, young males assume a brighter red colour on the breast 

 and the black on the crown of the head. The bright tints of 

 the adult male are not obtained till after the second moult. 



Bullfinches appear to be liable to great changes of colour 

 in their plumage. White of Selborne says, in one of his 

 letters, " A few years ago I saw in a cage a cock Bullfinch 

 which had been caught in the fields after it had come to its 



