l>o GRAMIBTVORJE. 



composed chiefly of vegetable fibres, though sometimes these 

 are mixed with wool in the lining, if the locality of the bird 

 afford that material. The eggs do not exceed five, of a pale 

 greenish blue, with markings of reddish brown. From the 

 nature of the locality, the brood is produced late in the 

 season ; and there is seldom a second one, at least in the 

 more northerly habitats. 



Though a migratory bird, it is one of short flights, each 

 leap accompanied by its note, and with frequent alightings ; 

 hence, though it gets on, stage by stage, and from the one end of 

 Britain probably to the other, it does not appear to cross the 

 Channel in winter, neither does it reach the Shetland Isles 

 in the summer. Wherever it goes it utters its cry, as well 

 when in flocks and mixed with other flocking birds in the 

 winter, as when each pair is living apart on the wild moor 

 in summer. The linnet, which agrees most nearly with it 

 in habit, and is a near neighbour in the summer, is the 

 bird with which it associates the most during its wintei 

 migrations. 



THE GOLD-FINCH (Fringillo, carduelis). 



The gold-finch is certainly the most beautiful, and it is 

 also among the most useful, of all our resident birds. A 

 figure of the male, in summer plumage, will be found on the 

 plate at page 194, vol. i., of one-third the lineal dimensions. 

 The colours of the female gold-finch resemble those of the 

 male, both in their distribution and their markings, only 

 they are not so brilliant in the tints, and the red on the fore- 

 head and chin is sometimes clouded with a few black spots ; 

 the young have the head brownish. There is not much 

 seasonal change in the plumage, only it is less bright in 

 winter, and the full beauty is not acquired till the birds are 

 in song. 



