70 GRAMINIVORJE. 



GROSS-BEAKS (PyrrJiuld). 



In their general characters, the gross-beaks bear consider- 

 able resemblance both to the sparrows and the finches ; but 

 they have other characters which, in the British species at 

 least, make them readily distinguishable. 



The gross-beaks have the bill, taken in all its dimensions, 

 rather less than that of the majority of the finches ; but it is 

 very thick in proportion to its length, dark in the colour, and 

 very strong and peculiar in its form. The exterior of the 

 upper mandible makes a sort of ridge, which is continued for 

 some distance on the forehead, and forms a sort of hook at 

 the tip ; the line of the under mandible is also very much 

 curved, and the tip of that mandible is rather shorter, so that 

 the upper one closes over it something in the same manner 

 as the bill of the parrots. The tarsi are short ; but the toes 

 long, and the claws well adapted for perching on slender 

 twigs. The wings are rather short and rounded ; the tails are 

 rather produced and strong. The whole organs of motion 

 indeed indicate a power of rapid short nights in all directions ; 

 and such is the general habits of the birds. They leap about 

 among the extreme twigs of trees, and extract the kernels of 

 seeds from their hardest receptacle. Two species are men- 

 tioned as British, the bull-finch gross-beak, a resident, and 

 the pine gross-beak, which can hardly be regarded as any- 

 thing but a straggler, and even then as a rare one. 



THE BULL-FINCH GROSS-BEAK (Pyrrliula vulgari*). 



A figure of the male bull-finch, one-third of the lineal 

 dimensions, is given on the plate at page 194, vol. i. The 

 colours of the female are less bright. The under part is pale 

 reddish brown, and the upper part brownish grey. The 

 remaining parts similar in the distribution of the colours, but 

 paler in the tints. The young, in their first plumage, have 



