BIRDIE 455 



during tlieir courtship whatever attractions they may pos- 

 sess. These cases are in some respects more curious than 

 the foregoing, and have been but little noticed. I owe the 

 following facts to Mr. AVeir, who has long kept confined 

 birds of many kinds, including all the British Fringillidse 

 and Emberizidae. The facts have been selected from a 

 large body of valuable notes kindly sent me by him. The 

 bullfinch makes his advances in front of the female, and 

 then puffs out his breast, so that many more of the crim- 

 son feathers are seen at once than otherwise would be the 

 case. At the same time he twists and bows his black 

 tail from side to side in a ludricous manner. The male 

 chaffinch also stands in front of the female, thus show- 

 ing his red breast and " blue bell," as the fan- 

 ciers call his head ; the wings at the same time being 

 slightly expanded, with the pure white bands on the shoul- 

 ders thus rendered conspicuous. The common linnet dis- 

 tends his rosy breast, slightly expands his brown wings 

 and tail, so as to make the best of them by exhibiting their 

 white edgings. We must, however, be cautious in conclud- 

 ing that the wings are spread out solely for display, as 

 some birds do so whose wings are not beautiful. This is 

 the case with the domestic cock, but it is always the wing 

 on the side opposite to the female which is expanded, and 

 at the same time scraped on the ground. The male gold- 

 finch behaves differently from all other finches; his wings 

 are beautiful, the shoulders being black, with the dark- 

 tipped wing-feathers spotted with white and edged with 

 golden yellow. When he courts the female he sways his 

 body from side to side, and quickly turns his slightly 

 expanded wings first to one side then to the other with a 

 golden flashing effect. Mr. Weir informs me that no other 

 British finch turns thus from side to side during his court- 

 ship, not even the closely allied male siskin, for he would 

 not thus add to his beauty. 



Most of the British buntings are plain-colored birds ; 

 but in the spring the feathers on the head of the male 

 reed-bunting {Emberiza scJmniculus) acquire a fine black 

 color by the abrasion of the dusky tips; and these are 

 erected during the act of courtship. Mr. Weir has kept 

 two species of Amadina from Australia; the ^4. castanotis 

 is a very small and chastely colored finch, with a dark tail, 

 white rump and jet-black upper tail coverts, each of the 



