BULLFINCH. 171 



south, of Spain. It is common in the north of Portugal, but 

 is seldom seen in the southern provinces of that country. 



In the adult male the bill is black : the irides dark brown : 

 the lores and head above the eyes and ear-coverts deep black 

 glossed with steel-blue ; nape, back and lesser wing-coverts, 

 dark smoky-grey ; the greater wing-coverts glossy blue-black, 

 tipped with light ashy-grey, forming a conspicuous bar across 

 the wing ; the primaries dusky, the other wing-quills black, 

 glossed with steel-blue, but the innermost tertial has the 

 greater part of the outer web fine tile-red ; the rump pure 

 white ; upper tail-coverts and tail glossy blue-black; the chin 

 black ; ear-coverts, sides of the neck, throat, breast and 

 belly, tile-red; tibial feathers, vent and lower tail-coverts 

 dull white ; axillary plumes and inner wing-coverts glossy 

 greyish-white ; wings-quills glossy grey and tail-quills glossy 

 greyish-black beneath : legs and toes purplish-brown ; claws 

 dark brown. 



The whole length is rather more than six inches ; from 

 the carpal joint to the tip of the wing, three inches and one- 

 eighth : the fourth, third and second primaries, successively 

 shorter than the fifth, which is the longest in the wing ; the 

 second and sixth being equal, and the first apparently 

 wanting : the tail nearly even. 



The female has the grey of the back mixed with brown, 

 and beneath, where the male is red, is of a warm mouse- 

 colour; the innermost tertial is slightly tinged with red ; the 

 head, wings and tail, not quite so deep or so glossy a black. 



The young on leaving the nest much resemble the female, 

 but have the head coloured like the back ; the bar on the 

 wing is of a light ochreous-brown, and the lower parts of 

 the body are lighter and tinged with ochreous, especially on 

 the belly. The black cap is assumed at the first moult, and 

 the cocks about the same time, or soon after, lose the dull 

 plumage of the breast which is replaced by the brightly- 

 tinted feathers that characterize the adults of their sex. 



