180 THE SMALLER BRITISH KIR />.<?. 



white. The -wings, which are also black, are crossed "by a band of 

 brilliant yellow, so that when expanded they present a most beautiful 

 appearance: 



"Like fairy fans of golden spokes they scorn." 



All the quills are tipped with white. The female is a little over four 

 inches and three quarters in length, and has her plumage less brightly 

 coloured. 



Goldfinches arc very docile, and may be taught a variety of simple 

 but amusing tricks. At an exhibition which took place in London 

 some years ago, several of these birds, with Canaries and Linnets, 

 went through a wonderful performance. One feigned death, and was 

 held up by the tail or claw, without exhibiting any signs of life; a 

 second stood on its head with its feet in the air; a third imitated a 

 Dutch milk-maid going to market with pails on her shoulders; a fifth 

 appeared as a soldier, and mounted guard as a sentinel; a sixth assumed 

 the part of a cannoneer, wearing a cap on its head, and carrying a 

 gun on its shoulder, and a match in its claw, with which it discharged 

 a small cannon. The same bird also acted as if it had been wounded, 

 and was wheeled in a barrow as if to convey it to an hospital, after 

 which it flew away before the company. The seventh turned a kind 

 of windmill; and the last bird stood in the midst of some fireworks, 

 which were discharged all round it, without exhibiting the slightest 

 symptom of alarm. It is always to be feared that when birds perform 

 such elaborate tricks as these they have been taught by means of 

 some method of cruelty or torture, and therefore, for our own part, 

 we would rather see them without these accomplishments. 



THE BULLFINCH, 



(Loxia pyrrhula.) 

 PLATE XI. FIGURE VI. 



THIS species is to be met with throughout England, Ireland, and 

 Scotland, frequenting woods, plantations, thickets, hedgerows, gardens, 

 and orchards, but avoiding bleak and exposed situations, such as 

 commons or moors. On the continent of Europe it is found in Nor- 



