THE FINCHES 1573 



the head dull crimson, extending to the hind-neck; the cheeks, throat, and breast 

 bright crimson; the centre of the breast and under parts dull white, slightly washed 

 with crimson; Indian specimens as a rule being much more brilliant than those ob- 

 tained in Northern Europe. The female lacks the bright colors of the other sex, 

 being of an olive brown above, with the lower back and rump olive brown; the 

 wing coverts dark brown, edged with olive and tipped with yellowish white, form- 

 ing a double wing bar; the wing quills and tail dark brown, edged with olive; the 

 throat dull white streaked with brown; the fore-neck and breast ochreous buff with 

 distinct dusky centres to the feathers; the under parts white; and the sides of the 

 body and flanks brown with dusky stripes. Mr. Seebohm states that males in 

 the first winter plumage are scarcely distinguishable from adult females, and even 

 in summer plumage are sometimes indistinguishable from them. 



The bullfinches can generally be recognized by their large head, 

 short swollen beak, and abbreviated wings, the tail being either square 

 or slightly forked. Their pattern of plumage assists identification, since both sexes 

 unite the characteristics of a white rump, together with deep black wings and tail. 

 The common bullfinch (Pyrrhula rubicilla} inhabits the woods and thickets of 

 Northern Europe and Siberia, giving place in Central and Southern Europe, as 

 well as in the British Isles, to a similar form, identical in the arrangement of colors, 

 but of duller tints and inferior size. The Azores possess a peculiar species of bull- 

 finch, which has almost entirely lost the bright colors adorning the males of the 

 other members of the genus, and another plain-colored species is the brown bullfinch 

 of the Himalayas, whose range apparently overlaps that of yet another Himalayan 

 species, the red-headed bullfinch. The orange bullfinch is found in Kashmir and 

 the adjoining territories. During the summer the habits of the common bullfinch 

 are shy and retiring, but in the spring this bird appears commonly in gardens, 

 where it commits serious ravages upon the buds of fruit trees. Mr. Seebohm ob- 

 serves that there can be little doubt that bullfinches pair for life; and it may be con- 

 sidered certain that these birds are of an affectionate disposition, the cock being 

 rarely absent from its mate at any time of the year. Generally commencing to 

 build about the middle of May in ordinary seasons, the bullfinch may lay a full 

 clutch of eggs as early as the middle of April, and the nest is generally placed in a 

 low tree or bush, seldom at a greater height than five feet from the ground. Com- 

 posed of slender twigs, it is flat and shallow, but firmly woven together, and lined 

 with root fibres; the eggs varying from four to six in number, and being greenish 

 blue in ground color, speckled and spotted with purplish-gray and dark purplish 

 markings. Two or even three broods of young are sometimes reared in a season, in 

 all of which the male sex largely predominates; indeed, there are cases where all the 

 young in a brood have been of this sex. When the young leave the nest, they live 

 \vith their parents in family parties, searching the hedgerows for the berries of 

 privet and other wild shrubs. In the breeding season the cock bullfinch is a pug- 

 nacious bird, always ready to do battle with any intruder who may venture into his 

 territory. The bullfinch does not appear to be migratory to any large extent, al- 

 though it wanders considerable distances when pressed by hunger. In England it 

 is seldom that more than nine or ten are seen in a flock, but in Southern Sweden the 



