62 CHAFFINCH. 



The young male resembles the female until after the au- 

 tumnal moult, when he begins gradully to assume his future 

 distinctive colours; until then the tints are paler, and the 

 green on the lower part of the back is wanting. 



In some specimens of the Chaffinch the throat and breast 

 are of a lighter or deeper red, the quill feathers of the wing 

 more or less black, and the white bands on the wings more 

 or less tinged with yellow. 



A curious variety of this species is recorded in the 'Zoolo- 

 gist, page 1955, by J. H. Grurney and William Richard Fisher, 

 Esqrs., as having been killed on the 30th. of August, in the 

 year 1847. The following is their account and description of 

 it: The bird is a young male, the ground colour of its 

 plumage is white, but pervaded throughout with a delicate 

 canary yellow colour. This tint is strongest on the back, 

 especially on the lower part, on the edges of the quill feathers 

 of the wings and of the tail feathers. The eyes are of the 

 natural colour. It was shot at Brooke, in the county of 

 Norfolk, by H. K. Thompson, Esq. Mr. Gr. B. Clarke also 

 records another in 'The Naturalist,' vol. i, page 142, which 

 was nearly white, there being but a few coloured feathers in 

 it. It was sjiot at Froxfield, near Woburn, Bedfordshire. 



The late William Thompson, Esq., of Belfast, gives an account 

 of another, in his valuable 'Natural History of Ireland,' of 

 which he says that it was of the full adult size of the Chaf- 

 finch in every measurement, and singularly and beautifully 

 marked, the prevailing colour of its plumage being pure white, 

 but the head tinted with yellow, and the centre of the back 

 rich yellow, like that of the Canary; the wing coverts and 

 upper tail coverts being also delicately tinged with that colour. 

 It had a few of the ordinary blackish grey and brown feathers 

 of the Chaffinch, as follows: one or two on the head, some 

 on the back, and some, very few, on the wings and tail, but 

 altogether inconspicuous. The primaries and the tail feathers, 

 as well as their shafts, were pure white, and the whole plumage 

 partook as much of, or more than, I should be inclined to 

 say from his description, that of the Canary, as of that of 

 the Chaffinch. He also relates that Mr. J. V. Stewart met 

 with a white one; and, further, that in May, 1844, a pair 

 were found, just after leaving the nest, in the garden of John 

 Legge, Esq., of Grlynn Park, near Carrickfergus, which were 

 united together after the manner of the 'Siamese Twins.' 



