40 GRAMINIVORJS. 



crowds and wafted by the winds. It is an active and indus- 

 trious little bird in its locality ; but it is one about which 

 there is nothing very striking, so that its history is but 

 short, and not very replete with interest.* 



FINCHES (Fringilla). 



The finches live more upon vegetable food than the spar- 

 rows ; their bills are straighter in their outlines, more per- 

 fectly conical, and more sharp-pointed. The birds are con- 

 sequently more of field-birds than the sparrows ; and, in the 

 course of the year, range over a greater extent of country. 

 They are also birds of much finer pltfmage, both in their 

 tints and their markings ; and as the plumage of some of 

 them varies considerably in the sexes or with age, there is a 

 little confusion in at least some of the descriptions of them. 

 That confusion is also increased by a multiplicity of local and 

 provincial names. These names sometimes give rise to a 

 double confusion, as the same bird, especially in its dif- 

 ferent plumages, is called by different names ; and in different 

 parts of the country the same name is applied to different 

 birds. 



Several of the finches are called linnets, and in Scotland, 

 Unties; which words have the same meaning, and simply 

 mean, that the birds eat the seeds of lint, or flax, (linum,) of 

 which, as well as the seeds of hemp, (cannabina^) and all the 

 smaller mucilaginous and oily seeds, the whole genus are par- 

 ticularly fond. 



As already hinted at, the whole genus change their habits, 

 and, to a greater or less extent, their localities, with the sea- 

 sons. They fiock in winter, and some of them resort to 

 Britain only during that season, and rarely, if ever, remain 



* Tlie tree-sparrow is a lircl of retired hibits. On the continent, it 

 abounds in Holland, France, &c., extending its range southwards to 

 Spain and Italy. M. 



