PASSERINE. 273 



upon the beech, and fruit trees, and eats almonds and all sorts of 

 fruits. 



There are two species with smaller bills in Europe. 



Loxia chloris, L.; Le Verdier, Enl. 672, 2; Naum. 120. (The 

 Green Grosbeak). Greenish above; yellowish beneath; external 

 edge of the tail, yellow. Inhabits the underwood, &c,, and eats all 

 sorts of seeds. 



Fring. petronia, L. ; La Soulcie, Enl. 225; Naum. 116, 3, 4. 

 (The Ring Finch). Which is commonly classed with the Finches, 

 whose colours it bears ; but independently of its great bill, a whitish 

 line round the head, and a yeUowish spot on the breast, afford evident 

 marks of distinction*. 



There are some species that should be distinguished from the 

 Grosbeaks. 



PiTYLUS, Cuv. 

 The bill quite as large, slightly compressed, arcuated above, and some- 

 times a salient angle on the middle of the edge of the upper jaw -j-. 

 Naturalists have long separated from them, 



Pyrrhula. 



The Bullfinches, which have a rounded, inflated bill, arched in every 

 direction. There is one in France. 



Loxia pyrrhula, L. ; Enl. 145; Vieill. Gal. 56; Naum. 111. 

 (The Common Bullfinch). Cinerous above; red beneath; calotte 

 black ; reddish grey superseding the red in the female ; builds on 

 various trees, and among the bushes along the road. It is naturally 

 a sweet songster, is easily tamed, and may be taught to speak. 

 There is a race of them known, a third larger J. 



LoxiA§, Briss. 



The Crossbills have acompressed bill, and the two mandibles so strongly 

 curved, that their points cross each other, sometimes on one side, some- 

 times on the other, according to the individuals. This singular bill ena- 

 bles them to tear out the seeds from under the scales of the pine-cones. 

 Hie European species is very common wherever there are large 

 woods of evergreens ; it is, 



Zox?a CMrmrosim, L.; Enl. 218. (The Crossbill). The plumage 

 of the young male is of a vivid red, with brown wings; that of the 

 adult, and of the female, is greenish above, yellowish beneath. Two 



* It is very evident, that the petronia is not less a Grosbeak than the chloris. 



+ Such are Lox. grossa. Enl. 154; — L. canadanensis, Enl. 152, 2; — L. crytromelas. 

 Lath. II, pi. xlvii, and Vieill. Gal. 59; — L. portoricensis, Daud. Ornith. II, pi. xxix, 

 or Pyrrhula auranticoUis, Vieill. Gal. 55. 



X Add, Lox. lineola, Enl. 319, \;—M. minuta, lb. 2;—L. collaria, Enl. 393, 3;— 

 L. sihirica, Falk. Voy. Ill, pi. xxviii; — Pyr. cinereola, Tern. Col. II, 1: — P. falci- 

 rostris, lb. 2; — P. orthaginea, T. Col. 400; — P. mysia, Vieill. Ois. ch. pi. xlvi, and 

 the pi. lix and Ix of Spix. [Add, P. frontalis, Bon. I, p. vi, f. 1, 2. — Eng. Ed. 



§ Loxia, from the Gr. loxos, (curve), the name invented for this bird by Conrad 

 Gesner. Linnaeus applied it to the Grosbeaks generally. 



