210 BIEDS OF SOMEESETSHIEE. 



bably assuming the orange plumage; it has the 

 head, neck, back and scapulars a dull sort of olive- 

 brown, much the same colour as a young Green- 

 finch; some of the feathers are more or less mar- 

 gined with green ; the rump is orange and yellow, 

 mixed ; wings and tail like the red ones ; breast and 

 all the under parts dull olive-brown, tinged with 

 yellow and green. The one I brought home from 

 Guernsey alive was evidently a young bird, being 

 much duller in plumage than the one just described, 

 and having more green and less orange on the rump ; 

 nor did it show any orange tinge on the under 

 parts : during the moult, which took place in the 

 spring, its head and neck became very grey ; it after- 

 wards assumed very much the plumage of the orange 

 bird above described : it is now (October) again be- 

 coming very grey about the head and neck ; so pro- 

 bably a second moult is approaching. Yarrell 

 describes the young females as having a greenish 

 yellow tint on the top of the head, and the whole of 

 the under surface of the body is mixed with greyish 

 brown ; the rump and upper tail-coverts primrose- 

 yellow, tinged with green ; the rest as in the male : 

 he adds that, as far as he knows, no females 

 have been found in the red plumage : this very 

 probably may be so, but I do not think that 

 either the different states of plumage or the habits 

 of this very curious bird have yet been perfectly 

 worked out. 



