THE BIRD-LIFE OF LONDON 



bulky structure, and fairly well made. The five or six 

 eggs range from pale olive or bluish green to brownish 

 buff, streaked and slightly spotted with dark olive-brown, 

 pale greyish brown, and violet grey. The pencillings are 

 almost as intricate as those on the eggs of the Buntings. 

 Throughout the nesting season the old birds are even 

 more secretive and shy than at other times. But one 

 brood is reared in the year ; and it is not unusual to find 

 several pairs breeding in the same vicinity. 



The adult male Hawfinch has the head reddish brown, 

 except the lores and the feathers at the base of the bill, 

 which are black, like the throat ; the nape is ashy grey ; 

 the back and scapulars are chestnut-brown, paler on the 

 rump, and yellowish brown on the upper tail-coverts ; 

 the wings are black shot with blue, except the median 

 wing-coverts, which are white, and the outermost 

 primaries, which have a large white patch on the inner 

 web ; there is also some amount of greyish white on the 

 others. A marked peculiarity is the truncated form of 

 some of the secondaries, the ends of which are shaped 

 like a billhook. The tail is black, the four outer feathers 

 having a terminal white spot on the inner web, the four 

 centre ones narrowly tipped with white. The under 

 parts are brown suffused with yellow, shading into white 

 on the under tail-coverts. Bill black (in winter it changes 

 to pinkish brown) ; tarsi and toes pale brown ; irides 

 greyish white. Length 7 inches. The female some- 

 what closely resembles the male in colour, but is duller. 

 The nestling resembles the adult in the wings and tail ; 

 there is no black on the throat and head, nor grey on the 

 nape, the breast and flanks are barred with brown, and 

 the head and upper parts are suffused with yellow. 



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