THE CAPE FINCH. 107 



head dark grey, with a whitish streak which passes above the 

 eyes ; the under part of the body light grey. From this it 

 seems to be very like the house sparrow ; its plumage is, how- 

 ever, altogether lighter. 



The male takes these colours, in the house, at the second 

 moulting, but the streaks are darker, the feathers of the upper 

 part of the body being blackish, with broad borders of reddish 

 grey ; the streak above the eyes is of a pale sulphur. When 

 wild, the males, immediately after pairing, which is in January, 

 lose their red feathers, and become like the females, but have 

 them again hi July, ttbout the time of the second breeding 

 season. They are pretty whilst moulting, when the head and 

 body are speckled, the tail and neck still remaining red. 



OBSERVATIONS. These birds, which are very numerous in all the colonies 

 at the Cape of Good Hope, do as much mischief there to the flowers and 

 ears of corn, as the sparrows do in Europe. When retiring by thousands 

 in the evening, from the fields to the reeds, they make such a noise with 

 their chirping as may be heard to a great distance. Their call is like the 

 sparrows' " dib, dib," and their song as weak as that of the siskin ; the 

 nest is skilfully constructed with small twigs interwoven with cotton, and 

 has but one opening, with two compartments, one above the other, the 

 upper for the male and the lower for the female ; the eggs are green. 



These birds, when kept in a cage, are fed on canary seed. The male 

 and female never like to be separated ; there is no instance, however, of 

 their breeding in these climates. 



THE CAPE FINCH. 



Loxia Capensis, LINNAEUS ; Le Pinson noir et jaune, BUFFON ; ler Capsche Kern- 

 beisser, BECHSTEIN. 



I HAVE one of these birds, which is about the size of a bull- 

 finch : its length is six inches and a quarter, of which the tail, 

 which is rather wedge-shaped, measures two and a half. The 

 beak is whitish above, very much compressed on the sides, and 

 very pointed; the iris dark brown; feet dark flesh-colour. 

 The head, neck, top of the back, all the under part of the body, 

 and the tail are of a fine velvet black. 



The female, which is light brown, has a black spot in the 

 centre of each feather ; the sides of the head and greater wing 

 coverts are grey white, streaked with black ; the lesser coverts 



