116 FRINGILLID7E. 



remain to breed in Algeria. In winter it would seem to 

 visit all the islands of the Mediterranean from the Balearic 

 group to the eastward. It is found in Portugal and is 

 numerous and resident in many parts of Spain, as well as 

 throughout the southern and central parts of France ; but 

 further to the northward, except towards the German frontier, 

 it is only a straggler. In Italy it is generally distributed, 

 but partially so in Switzerland, though said to breed yearly 

 and commonly about Geneva. As before intimated it is abun- 

 dant in South Germany, especially on the Upper and Middle 

 Rhine, and the same is the case in the Austrian dominions. 



The cock has the bill horn-coloured, with the lower man- 

 dible paler : the irides dark brown : immediately above the 

 nostrils is a transverse line of dull greyish- olive, which, 

 excepting a patch on the forehead and a streak above and 

 below each eye of bright gamboge-yellow, is the prevailing 

 colour of the head, ear-coverts and neck being mixed how- 

 ever with yellow on the nape ; the mantle and back are dark 

 greyish-brown, each feather being more or less broadly 

 edged with yellow ; the least wing-coverts are blackish- 

 brown tipped with yellow ; the rest with the quill-feathers, 

 both of wings and tail, greyish-brown, narrowly bordered 

 with primrose-yellow, which on the tertials is broader but 

 inclining to greyish-buff; the rump is bright gamboge- 

 yellow; the upper tail-coverts blackish-brown with yellow 

 edges ; the chin, throat, sides of the neck beneath the ear- 

 coverts, and breast, are bright gamboge-yellow, streaked on the 

 sides of the breast and flanks with blackish-brown, and paling 

 on the belly which, with the vent and the lower tail-coverts, 

 is white ; the inner wing-coverts are greyish, tinged with 

 yellow : the legs and toes pale brown, the claws darker. 



The hen is very similar, but has much less yellow, and 

 that not so bright in tint ; the middle wing-coverts also are 

 edged with pale buff. In winter the yellow of the cock, 

 especially on the head, is much obscured by greyish-olive, 

 and on the wing-coverts inclines to pale buff. 



The whole length is about four inches and a half ; that of 

 the wing from the carpal joint two inches and four-fifths. 



