BULLFINCH. 55 



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year the Bullfinch is very conspicuous on the fruit-trees, his gay colours 

 contrasting strongly with those of the opening blossoms. He is now 

 almost incessantly in motion, like a Tit or a Goldcrest ; and as he passes 

 from tree to tree we have an opportunity of examining his flight, which is 

 undulating and not very rapid. The bird rarely flies far at a time, although 

 well capable of doing so, but prefers to progress in short jerky flights from 

 bush to bush, or even by hopping from one branch to another. In winter 

 Bullfinches are very fond of frequenting hedges, where they busily search 

 for the seeds of all kinds of weeds; and although half a dozen birds 

 may be met with close together they do not associate ; and the mere acci- 

 dent of their being together is caused by the abundance of food. 



The Bullfinch belongs to the class of gipsy migrants, and has no settled 

 winter home. A few examples occasionally appear on our coast and are 

 seen near the lighthouses, but the instances are solitary. In this country 

 they wander about considerably in winter, remaining in a district for a 

 short time, then disappearing again ; but in the severest winters they do 

 not retire southwards nor ever cross the sea. 



The Bullfinch is singularly striking in appearance and is a remarkably 

 handsome bird. The head above the eyes, the upper tail-coverts 

 and the tail, and the wings (except the tips of the greater coverts, 

 which are ashy grey, and the lesser wing-coverts, which are bluish grey) 

 are glossy bluish black; the outer web of the innermost secondary is 

 almost all red; the nape and back are bluish grey; the rump is pure 

 white; the chin is black ; the sides of the head, the throat, breast, and belly 

 are brick-red, and the vent and under tail-coverts are white. Bill black ; 

 legs, feet, and claws dark brown ; irides brown. The female has the same 

 pattern of colour as the male ; the head, wings, and tail are very similar 

 in colour, but not quite so glossy black ; the parts that are red in the male 

 are replaced by brown, and the white parts are not so pure. Young in 

 first plumage resemble the female, but have no black on the head. The 

 adult plumage is, however, attained by a moult in their first autumn. 

 Melanistic varieties of the Bullfinch are not uncommon in confinement ; 

 and Mr. Gurney records, in the ' Zoologist ' for 1854 (p. 4252), an entirely 

 black specimen, which eventuallv moulted into the normal-coloured 

 plumage. 



