PASSERINE. CONIROSTRES. 265 



Alauda,* the Larks. 



Another genus of mixed feeders, but evincing 

 more preference for seeds than the Tits. Their 

 situation is on the ground, where they build their 

 nests ; for walking on which the claw of the hind 

 toe is greatly lengthened. Our own sweet Sky-lark 

 (A. Arvensis), whose morning melody, poured forth 

 as he soars perpendicularly into the sky, has afforded 

 so many beautiful images to the poets, is a good 

 example of the genus. 



The Buntings (Emberiza) and the Finches (Frin- 

 gilla), with increasingly conical bills, lead on to the 

 thick, short, but greatly enlarged bills of the Bull- 

 finches and Crossbills. The beautiful and docile 

 Goldfinch (F. Carduelis) and the Canary (F. Canaria), 

 those favourites of the boudoir, with the silent but 

 impudent House Sparrow (F. Domestica), will suffici- 

 ently illustrate the former, connected with the latter 

 through the Linnets (F. Linaria), &c. The showy 

 plumage, as well as the clear and musical song of 

 the Cardinal Grosbeak (Loxia CardinaUs), has made 

 him a favourite cage-bird, especially in America, his 

 native country. The beak of the Cross-bill (L. 

 Curvirostra) is singularly formed, the points crossing 

 each other when at rest : a structure enabling it 

 to wrench asunder the scales of the pine-cones, and 

 to extract the seeds, on which it feeds. 



* The Latin name. 

 VOL. I. N 



