THE GREENEINCK. 309 



Linnet* {Coccothraustes cJiIoris), wliicli any one may 

 see wlio will walk abroad in the country during 

 April or May. This finch is called also Green- 

 bird, and is the Verdier of the French. Words- 

 worth has a poem addressed to it : — 



" Upon yon tuft of hazel-trees, 

 That twinkle to the gusty breeze, 

 Behold him perch'd in ecstasies. 



Yet seeming still to hover; 

 There, where the flutter of his wings 

 Upon his back and body flings 

 Shadows and summer glimmerings, 

 That cover him all over. 



" My dazzled sight the bird deceives, 

 A brother of the dancing leaves; 

 Then flits and from the cottage-eaves 



Pours forth his song in gushes ; 

 As if by that exulting strain 

 He mock'd and treated with disdain 

 The voiceless form he chose to feign, 



While flitting in the bushes." 



The beautiful plumage of the green-bird is, 

 however, almost too yellow to be mistaken for any 



* The Greenfinch is six inches in length. Whole tipper parts 

 yellow-olive ; wings and tail greyish-brown ; the quill-feathers oi 

 both broadly marked with rich yellow; the shoulders edged with 

 yellow ; under parts yellow, brightest on the belly ; beak thick, 

 flesh-coloured ; feet pale brown. The female has the general 

 plumage dull brown, tinged with yellow-green on the rump 

 and belly. 



