ORDER PASSERES. 263 



the white border on the primary alar quills, which is more 

 broad and brilliant in the male than in the female. The red 

 colour, which characterizes the male during summer, com- 

 mences to appear towards the end of autumn ; but at this 

 time it is tarnished, and occupies only the middle portion of 

 the feathers, the extremity of which is of a reddish grey, so 

 that it can only be perceived by raising them up. In pro- 

 portion as the spring approaches, this colour extends and 

 grows brighter, and towards the month of May becomes very 

 brilliant in the male of two years old ; less pure and less 

 extended in the bird of the first year ; and among the old 

 ones it sometimes assumes an orange shade. Of course, the 

 linnets which remain grey must be only females ; and it 

 does not appear that any well-authenticated instance of a 

 male of this hue at such periods has been found. 



It is only on the head and chest that their plumage suffers 

 the variations we have alluded to. The occiput and nape 

 become of a clear ashen, from the grey and reddish, which 

 they were immediately after the moulting. The morone- 

 brown of the feathers of the back assumes a finer and more 

 decided colour. The croup passes from grey and reddish 

 white, to blackish, and pure white. Such is the case with 

 the male linnets in a state of liberty ; but it is quite different 

 with those confined in a cage, or even in an aviary, exposed 

 always to the air. The red disappears ; the brown morone 

 remains dull ; the grey of the occiput and nape preserve the 

 reddish tint. The principal attributes, which in this state 

 distinguish the male from the female, are the colours of the 

 summit of the head, which is of a tarnished red towards the 

 middle of the feather, and in the white of the alar quills, 

 which is more extended in the male than in the female. No 

 arguments, derived from size and proportions, appear to be 

 more convincing in favour of the separation of species, than 

 those drawn from colours. 



