388 PERCHING BIRDS. 



The snow-finches form a small group possessing the characteristic 

 form of the true finches, but with the long wings falling short of 

 the tail by less than the length of the metatarsus. Chocolate or reddish brown 

 appears to predominate in the plumage of this group, often associated with rose- 

 colour, but the type of the genus is conspicuously pied with white. Snow- 

 finches are chiefly found in the mountains of Central Asia, but some species 

 range over the northern parts of Siberia, Japan, and Northern China. The 

 best known is the common snow-finch, of the mountains of Southern Europe, 

 and ranging eastwards to Palestine, but replaced in Persia, Turkestan, and 

 Afghanistan by the eastern snow-finch. 



Common The common snow-finch (Montifringilla nivalis) breeds in the 



Snow-Finch, highest regions of the mountain ranges of Central Europe, adapting 

 its habits to the desolate regions in which it passes the summer ; and we owe to 

 Mr. Scott Wilson the following account of its habits. " It was observed at a greater 

 height than any other Alpine bird. At the foot of the Lammern glacier, seven 

 thousand six hundred feet, we found it breeding at the summit of the Furka Pass, 

 as well as at the Gemmi. It lays about the end of May or the beginning of June, 

 at a time when the ground in these Alpine regions is entirely covered with snow ; 

 from which cause I suppose it is obliged to place its nest under the roofs of buildings, 

 or, where there are no buildings, in rocks which do not hold the snow, the former not 

 only affording them a dry nesting-place, but one which also protects the nest from 

 the storms of snow and sleet, which have by no means ceased to fall by the end of 

 May. A nest obtained on the Furka is principally made of dry grass-stalks, inter- 

 mingled with which are tufts of hair, wool, leaves, shavings of wood, and a few 

 feathers. The inside walls are lined with ptarmigan's feathers, both white and 

 brown, these being woven together very compactly with horsehair, and in a nest 

 before me also with strands of green worsted. The bottom of the nest is not lined 

 with feathers. The outside diameter, which is nearly round, is 8 J inches ; the inside 

 diameter 3 \ inches ; thus the inside cup is small in proportion. The eggs are pure 

 white, and from three to five in number." Mr. Wilson adds that the snow-finches 

 in winter descend from the Alpine regions to the lower valleys. The snow-finch is 

 a beautiful bird, rather larger than the greenfinch or sparrow, with long wings, in 

 which the primary quill-feathers are much longer than the rest, as in some other 

 birds of airy and graceful flight. The strong contrast of jet-black and purest 

 white in the plumage, notably in the tail, which has two black feathers in the 

 middle, while the rest are as white as snow, makes the bird conspicuous at a long 

 distance, and a more striking object than the browner snow -bunting, which 

 occasionally strays from the north to the Alps. There are few more beautiful 

 sights than the wheelings and whirlings of a flock of snow -finches, with their white 

 feathers glistening in the sun one moment, while the next their black ones will 

 show clear against the snow. The adult snow-finch has the upper-parts brown, 

 with light edgings to the feathers ; the hind-neck and sides of the neck are ashy 

 grey ; the wings and tail are black and white, some of the feathers being edged 

 with brown ; while the lower-parts are white throughout. 



Des t F' h s ^ki s rou P nas been founded to contain the palest forms of the 



' rose-finches, the only two species known being inhabitants of desert 



