,40 



F R I N G I L L I D JE. 



greater red pole ; another, and a very differently 

 formed species, and which is apparently unknown to 

 almost every British ornithologist. 



The SERIN (Fringilla-scrinus Enrop<zu>i) is a curious 

 little finch, a native of the central parts of Europe, 

 and remarkable for its small and very short bill. It 

 is of a beautiful yellow, variegated a little with a 

 darker colour. In winter they are found much about 

 gardens upon the fruit trees, but never along the 

 streams and rivulets like the redpole and siskin. It is a 

 pleasing and most indefatigable songster, its notes being 

 low but very melodious, and somewhat resembling 

 those of the skylark, iutermixed with a little of the 

 canary. According to Bechstein, " they sing inces- 

 santly, either perched on the outer branches of a tree, 

 or whilst rising in the air, and gently sinking again to 

 the former situation, or whilst flying from tree to tree. 

 Their call resembles that of the canary, and their 

 habits are mostly similar to that species. They feed 

 on all the small seeds found in fields and orchards, 

 particularly groundsel, plantain, garden pimpernel, 

 and others of the same kind. In woods they seem 

 attached to beech and oak-trees. 



" The nest," according to the same author, " is 

 generally placed on the lower branches of apple and 

 pear trees, sometimes on beeches and oaks, but never 

 on willows by the water side. It is constructed of 

 line and divided roots, mosses, lichens, principally 

 of those which are farinaceous, the whole being en- 

 twined with great nicety, and lined with a thick bed 

 of feathers, horse-hair, and pig's bristles. They ge- 

 nerally lay three or four, rarely five eggs, which are 

 white with spots of bright reddish-brown, which form 

 a zone towards the large end. The hen sits thirteen 

 or fourteen days, during which time the male feeds 

 her. He also helps to feed the young ones, which is 

 done by disgorging the food ; the young closely 

 resemble those of the common linnet, and maybe 

 reared easily upon soaked rape-seed. They remain 

 grey till after moulting, when they attain their full 

 plumage, but are never so beautiful in the house as 

 in the wild state. After being kept a few years in 

 the cage, the yellow on those taken full grown 

 becomes pale, a'nd fades at length to nearly white. 

 This bird will pair wiih the canary, siskin, linnet, or 

 goldfinch." It is not found in Britain. 



The most typical of all the finches are, perhaps, 

 the grosbeaks (sub-genus Coccothraiisfes), in which 

 the bill is conical, very thick, bulging at the base, 

 and rapidly tapering to a point, ; each mandible being 

 nearly of equal thickness. The wings, in the more 

 typical species, have the tertiary feathers singularly 

 widened at the tips and abruptly ending, looking as 

 if their extreme ends had been cut off. They are 

 some of the largest of the FringilJidce, and by the 

 power of their mjiFsive horny bill, the larger species are 

 enabled to break the shells of the harder kind of seeds 

 and berries, upon which -they principally subsist. 

 Their colours are soft, handsome, and well contrasted, 

 without having any tendency to be gaudy, and alto- 

 gether they form a very well defined group. 



^ The green grosbeak (C. chloris) is a very common 

 bird throughout the greater part of Europe, and is 

 everywhere abundant in the British islands, frequent- 

 ing hedges and the outskirts of woods. It is of the 

 size of, or rather larger than a sparrow, all over of a 

 dull olive green, brightest upon the rump, throat, and 

 belly, which incline to yellow, and having the outer 

 webs of the primary wing feathers briaht yollow ; the 



wins 1 coverts and tertiaries are in winter broadly mar- 

 gined with ach colour, which gradually wears off' 

 towards the breeding season, at which time the green 

 upon the back, and indeed the whole plumage, be- 

 comes very much brighter, the terminations of each 

 feather being shed. The female has the green and 

 yellow not so bright, and is altogether of a much 

 browner tint than the male : the young are longi- 

 tudinally streaked in the manner of the linnet. 



This bird is by no means typical of the division of 

 the FringilMcE to which it appertains, being inter- 

 mediate between the more standard grosbeaks and 

 the linnets and canaries ; and is indeed commonly 

 known in many parts of the country by the name 

 green linnet. It is also called grecnbird and greenfinch. 

 It is rather a familiar species than otherwise, coming 

 much into gardens, and is seldom found but in the 

 neighbourhood of cultivated ground. Their song 

 is very simple, but subdued and pleasing, perhaps 

 more so from its association, and consists of two or 

 three soft trills, with now and then a very singular 

 note, which may be expressed by tc-e-c-a-a-nr, pro- 

 nounced slowly and clearly. In the breeding season 

 this bird often sings on the wintr, rising from a tree 

 to a little height in the air, and then fluttering to the 

 next tree in a very curious shuffling manner, as if 

 wounded. The nest is placed generally in some 

 thick hedge, and is composed of moss and wool inter- 

 woven with a lining of feathers and hair, and con- 

 siderably resembles that of the common linnet, but is 

 larger and looser ; the eggs are also much like those 

 of a linnet, but are rather larger, bluish-white, 

 speckled (chiefly at the large end), with reddish- 

 brown ; about four or five in number, the usual com- 

 plement in this family. 



After breeding, and undergoing the autumnal moult, 

 the green grosbeaks assemble in considerable flocks, 

 which become very numerous about the commence- 

 ment of severe weather ; and they commonly associ- 

 ate with chaffinches and yellow buntings, and some- 

 times bramblefinches. They subsist upon all sorts of 

 seeds, and very much upon grain, which Litter is never 

 touched by any of the birds we have been hitherto de- 



Common Bunting. 



scribing ; and they appear to feed more upon the given 

 leaves of groundsel and other plants, than nuy other 

 of our finches. In confinement when taken young 1 , 

 it becomes remarkably tame ; and is often muttered to 



