FOR CAGES AND A VIARlES. 77 



everything of the kind indicated that he required, he will 

 lose his red when moulting and remain brown to the end 

 of his days. 



The Redpoll, however, when placed out of doors will, 

 to a certain extent, regain his full colours, that is, his poll 

 will turn red, but his breast only resumes the merest 

 shade of the becoming colour with which Nature had at 

 first so liberally endowed him. Evidently the cause of 

 the loss of colour in confinement, common to all these 

 birds, and to some foreign species, the Purple Finch of 

 America for example, is more recondite than any that 

 has yet occurred to the mind of the ornithologist. 



The Hawfinch. 



This is a large bird and a handsome one, but Bechstein 

 was of opinion that one must be a great lover of birds indeed 

 to wish to have it in the house. It is 7 inches long, of 

 which 2^ inches belong to the tail. The beak is very 

 stout and thick, blue in summer, and flesh-coloured with 

 a black tip in winter. 



The head, face, shoulders and back, are brown; the 

 throat, black; the nape, blue; the wing-coverts, white; 

 the primaries, steel black ; the secondaries, of the same 

 colour, have square ends; the under parts are pale buff, 

 and the tail greyish-white, except at the base, where the 

 feathers are black; the legs and feet are greyish 

 flesh-colour. The female is rather smaller and paler in colour 

 than the male, whom she otherwise resembles. 



These birds feed on seeds and berries, and will live for 

 a number of years in the house. 



The nest is a compact structure of grass-stems and 

 moss, placed on the branch of a tree, generally in a 

 cleft between two boughs ; and the eggs are four or five 

 in number, of a greenish-grey colour, streaked and 

 speckled with brown and bluish-black. The young 

 are easily reared on bread and milk and soaked seed, 

 crushed to free it from the husk, and will then become 

 very tame. 



The Hawfinch has not much natural song, but when 



