188 THE GREENFINCH. 



light until they sing. When they have been under this course of 

 instruction in classes for some time, they are committed, singly to 

 the care of boys, whose sole business is to go on with their edu- 

 cation. Each boy assiduously plays his organ from morning till 

 night, for the instruction of the bird committed to his care, while 

 the class-teacher goes his regular rounds, superintending the 

 progress of his feathered pupils, and scolding or rewarding them 

 in a manner which they perfectly understand, and strictly~m ac- 

 cordance with the attention or the disregard they have shown to 

 the instructions of the monitor. This round of teaching goes 

 on unintermittingly for no less a period than nine months, by which 

 time the bird has acquired firmness, and is less likely to forget or 

 spoil the air by leaving out passages, or giving them in the wrong 

 place. At the time of moulting, the best instructed birds are 

 liable to lose the recollection of their tunes, and therefore require 

 to have them frequently repeated at that time, otherwise all the 

 previous labour will have been thrown away. There are cele- 

 brated schools for these birds at Hesse and Fulda, from whence 

 all Germany, Holland, and England, receive supplies of the little 

 musicians. In some cases the birds have been taught to whistle 

 three different airs, without spoiling or confusing them ; but in 

 general a simple air, with perhaps a little prelude, is as much as 

 tiiey can remember." 



69. THE GREENFINCH, OR GREEN BIRD. 

 Loxia Chloris, LIN. Grosbec Verdier, BUF. Der Griinlinff, BECH. 



Description. This bird, which is somewhat longer than a 

 common Chaffinch, is six inches long, of which the tail mea- 

 sures two inches and a half. The beak is five lines long, flesh- 

 coloured, darker above than below, and light brown in winter. 

 The iris is dark brown ; the feet flesh-coloured, tinged with 

 blue, and eight lines high. The general colour is yellowish 

 green ; on the under part of the body a lighter or Siskin 

 green, which is lightest at the rump and belly, and on the 

 latter tinged with white. The quill feathers are blackish, 

 bordered with yellow ; the four outside tail feathers yellow 

 from the middle to the root, but else black with a white border. 



The female is smaller, and easily distinguished from the 

 male, by having the upper part of the body of a browner 

 green, and the lower part more ashen grey than yellowish 

 green. There are some yellow spots on the breast and the 

 belly, and the under tail coverts are rather white than yellow. 



Sportsmen and birdcatchers distinguish three kinds of Green- 



