262 CLASS AVES. ^ 



wings bordered with yellow. On the bodies of many the 

 tints are more or less mingled with white. Among the black 

 goldfinches some are entirely black ; others more or less 

 varied with this colour. These last varieties are chiefly attri- 

 butable to food, especially to the exclusive use of hempseed. 

 Still the colours are not fixed, for goldfinches have been 

 known to resume their primitive tints after the moulting; 

 and some which were even totally black, to retain very fine 

 feathers of that hue. These changes from one moulting to 

 another become still more palpable when millet or other grain 

 is substituted for hempseed. 



Of the other species of the goldfinch little can be said, 

 except in the way of description ; we shall proceed, there- 

 fore, at once to 



The Linnet. To persons who have seen the numerous 

 treatises extant on European birds, it must be a matter of sur- 

 prise that any necessity should still exist of further investiga- 

 tion on this subject ; nevertheless, it is most certain that 

 many of the birds which are actually subjected to our daily 

 view, do require further research. 



Brisson, Mauduyt, Sonnini, and Frisch, have made two 

 species of the linnet, properly so called, under the denomi- 

 nations of grey and red ; Latham and Gmelin under those 

 of Imota and cannahina. Belon, Linnaeus, Olina, Gesner, 

 Montbeillard, Meyer, and Latham, in the second supplement 

 to his synopsis, after the remarks of Bays and Montague, 

 make but one. The Doctor, also, though he formally sepa- 

 rates them in his General History^ expresses there his senti- 

 ments to the same effect. As for M. Vieillot, he has no 

 doubt of the identity of the red and grey linnet ; and his 

 opinion is confirmed by repeatedly multiplied and indefati- 

 gable observations. Both kinds, young and old, male and 

 female, are grey in the back season, and resemble each other 

 so much, that the sexes cannot be distinguished, except by 



