76 FRINGILLIDJE. 



roselin se nourrit de sauterelles et d' autres insects, dont 11 fait 

 une immense consommation. n rend, sous ce rapport, le plus 

 grands services a 1'agriculture. H est essentiellement voy- 

 ageur, se migrations se font toujours en grandes troupes." 

 These accounts perfectly agree with the description of food 

 found in the stomachs of British killed specimens, excepting 

 that many of the birds obtained in Ireland have exhibited a 

 considerable partiality for fruit, some having been captured 

 by a fish-hook baited with a cherry.* 



In this species the purplish black of the head, wings, and 

 tail, contrast in a beautiful manner with the delicate light 

 rose-red of the body. 



Habitat Northern Africa. 



FAMILY XIV. FRINGILLIDJE (FINCHES). 



GENUS XXXVI. COCCOTHRAUSTES (GROSBEAK). 



SPECIES 72 THE HAWFINCH. 



Coccothraustes vulgaris. Fleming. 



Gros-bec vulgaire. Temm. 



AFTER passing in succession the preceding sub -orders of the 

 Dentirostres and Conirostres, we arrive at one of the most in- 

 teresting groups comprised in the order of Incessores. The 

 birds composing it are chiefly remarkable for beauty of plum- 

 age and song, and at the same time render a conside- 

 rable benefit to the agriculturist by destroying an immense 

 quantity of larvae and insects during the breeding season. 



The first of those species coming under our notice is the 

 hawfinch, one of those birds without the slightest pretensions 

 to beauty or elegance of form, owing to the immense dispro- 

 portion between the size of the head and body. 



The rarest of its family in Ireland, it is only obtained oc- 

 casionally in various parts of the country, and therefore sel- 

 dom comes under the notice of any except the practical orni- 

 thologist. On two occasions we have been so fortunate as to 

 have observed it, on one at the Scalp, near Dublin, and the 

 other in the Phoenix Park, in the years 1848 and 1852. In 

 both localities the food was similar, the berry of the haw- 

 thorn ; and from the tameness of the birds in the Park, where 

 as many as three had assembled, we had every opportunity of 



* Thompson. Glennon. 



