FINCHES. 



397 



pair and breed. In Teneriffe, it commences breeding near the coast in January, while 

 in the high mountains it nests in June and July, ascending to its elevated haunts in 

 the end of May ; the nest being generally placed in an evergreen tree or shrub. The 

 eggs are bluish green in ground-colour, and spotted with reddish brown. The song 

 of the wild male is sweet and powerful, but does not possess the variety of notes 

 heard from cage-birds. The wild canary has occasionally reached the southern 

 shores of Great Britain as a storm-driven wanderer. The male has the upper-parts 

 ashy brown washed with yellow, and streaked with blackish brown ; the forehead, 

 rump, and lower-parts being yellow ; and the sides ashy streaked with black. 



The brightly dressed finches of this group have the bill of pro- 

 portionately smaller dimensions than the pine grosbeak, to which they 

 are nearly related. The sides of the bills are convex, and the culmen moderately 

 curved ; the wings are long and pointed ; the tail is much shorter than the wings, 

 and considerably forked ; while the feet are small and weak. The males are 

 remarkable for their crimson plumage ; the females and young males being plain 

 coloured. Rose-finches are found in North-Eastern and Eastern Asia, Asia Minor, 

 Palestine, the Indian region, and China, one species breeding as far west as 

 Pomerania ; and although the vast majority belong to the Old World, four species 

 are peculiar to North America, one of which closely resembles an Old World form. 



A common bird in the North of Europe is the scarlet 

 Scarlet Grosbeak. , . L 



grosbeak or rose-finch (Carpodacus erythrinus), regarding which 



Dr. Taczanowski, after mentioning that they only come to Poland to breed, 



observes that "they first appear generally about the 15th of May; and after 



a few days they are found at their regular nesting-places. They arrive singly, 



and take up their habitation in the bushes near water in the middle of fields and 



marshes ; nowhere numerous, they are generally rather rare. The males announce 



their arrival by a characteristic song which is easily recognised even at a great 



distance. They are very restless, whereas the female on the other hand is quiet. 



When singing, the male generally perches on top of a tree or bush, always in full 



view, and during the short intervals of the song utters a deep, clear whistle which 



may be rendered as follows — tin tiw ft tiu, tin, tin ft tin tin ; after having 



repeated this about ten times, it descends amongst the branches and searches 



after food. While thus engaged it sometimes warbles in a very low tone. After 



about a quarter of an hour of repose it reappears in full view and recommences 



its song. In singing, it raises the feathers of its crown and throat, and in the sun 



looks much more beautiful than it really is. The food consists chiefly of the 



various seeds of trees and bushes, tender buds, etc. They seldom feed on seeds of 



plants, but sometimes they resort to the fields to pick up hemp-seed. They are 



not often seen on the ground, and only go there in search of materials for their 



nest. The latter is placed on small bushes generally on thorns, wild rose-trees, 



hawthorns, and among hops. In form it resembles that of Sylvia cinerea, and is 



constructed of fine, elastic, dry bents, particularly of ranunculus and hop, clover, 



and umbelliferous plants. The interior is formed of delicate, dry roots and shoots 



of plants, often interlaced with a few horsehairs or other coarse hairs. The nest is 



loosely constructed and the exterior almost carelessly, but it is regular and neat 



in the inside and in form is almost semicircular. It is placed in a fork of the 



