THE GOLDFINCH. 



Fnngilla Carduelis, LINNAEUS; Le Chardonneret, BUFFON; Der Distelfink, 

 BECHSTEIN. 



" BEAUTY of plumage," says Buffon, " softness of voice, 

 quickness of instinct, remarkable cleverness, proved docility, 

 tender affection, are all united in this delightful little bird ; 

 and if it were rare, or if it came from a foreign country, it 

 would then be valued as it deserves." It is five inches and 

 three quarters in length, of which the tail measures two. The 

 beak, five lines long, very pointed, and rather flattish at the 

 sides, is whitish, with the point horn-coloured. The shanks, 

 six lines high, are delicate and brownish. The front of the 

 head is a fine crimson, sometimes scarlet ; a wide border of the 

 same colour surrounds the under base of the beak ; the bridle, 

 as it is called, is black ; the top of the head is black, which 

 colour extends downwards, from the nape on each side, dividing 

 the white on the cheeks from the white spot on the hinder part 

 of the neck ; the under part of the neck is white ; the hinder 

 part and the back are fine brown. 



The female is rather smaller, and has not so much red round 

 the bill ; the bridle is brownish ; the cheeks are mixed with 

 light brown; the lesser wing coverts are brown; the back 

 dark brown. The size, or the want of some white spots at the 

 tips of the feathers, do not serve to distinguished the male from 

 the female, as some bird-catchers say ; nor ought we either to 

 imagine that the size or number of these spots constitute dif- 

 ferent varieties; for all these distinctions are accidental, and 

 depend on physical strength and age. Our bird-catchers think 

 the large ones that are nearly the shape of the greater redpole 



