184 FRINGILLID.E. 



cock in the early spring will indeed mount to the summit of 

 a fir, and thence utter his melody, chiefly at sunrise and 

 sunset, till as the days rapidly lengthen darkness ceases and 

 his evensong and mattins are blended. In general, however, 

 he keeps with his mate among the thicker boughs, and there 

 warbles, unseen without close scrutiny. Nor does he often 

 indulge in those desultory nights that are so remarkable in 

 the Crossbills. The adults seem seldom to wander from 

 their home, and it must be chiefly the young that form the 

 migratory bands which are said to have appeared in various 

 parts of Europe. Herr Collett has furnished Mr. Dresser 

 with a good account of the habits of these northern visitors, 

 which agrees with that of American observers as to the ease 

 with which, by one device or another, they may be entrapped. 



In the male, as figured, the bill is dark brown, the base 

 of the lower mandible paler ; the hides hazel : the frontal 

 plumes and the lores dusky black ; the whole of the head, 

 cheeks, ear-coverts and nape glossy vermilion-red; the 

 feathers of the back and scapulars greyish- black, with broad 

 red margins, which become yet broader on those of the rump 

 and the upper tail-coverts, so as to produce an almost contin- 

 uous red surface ; the wing-coverts and wing-quills greyish-- 

 black, the former broadly edged outwardly and tipped 

 with white, tinged with red, the latter narrowly edged out- 

 wardly with dull white, which is tinged with red on the 

 proximal part of the primaries and outer secondaries ; tail- 

 quills almost uniform greyish-black, very narrowly edged with 

 a lighter shade, tinged near the base with red ; the chin, 

 throat, breast and sides, vermilion-red, but the feathers 

 grey at the base ; the belly, vent and lower tail-coverts, light 

 grey, the feathers sometimes streaked with dusky and tipped 

 with white ; wings and tail beneath, slate-grey : legs and 

 toes blackish-brown ; the claws black. 



The whole length is eight inches ; from the carpal joint to 

 the tip of the wing, four inches and a half: the third and 

 fourth primaries nearly equal and the longest in the wing ; 

 the second shorter than the fifth ; while the first is apparently 

 wanting : the tail is slightly but decidedly forked. 



