38 How to Sex Cage Birds. 



having all the rosy wine-red of that sex replaced by coppery olive 

 more distinctly copper-coloured on the crown, and golden coppery on 

 the rump. Viewed from above, the beak of the hen is much 

 narrower and less swollen at centre than that of the cock. When 

 moulted in captivity, the male assumes much more nearly the colour- 

 ing of the female, so that the different form of the beak is important. 



Rosy Bullfinches (Erythrospiza). 

 The Desert Trumpeter Bullfinch (Erythrospiza githaginea). 



The female is altogether duller and less rosy in colouring than 

 the male, but otherwise similar in plumage. 



Chapter VII. 

 BRITISH FRINGILLIN.E. 



The European Chaffinch (Fringilla ccelebs). 



The female is rather smaller than the male, has the crown and back 

 buftish -brown and the under parts huffish-grey, so that there is no 

 difficulty in distinguishing it from the male. 



The Brambling (Fringilla monti fringilla). 



The female is altogether less brilliantly coloured than the male ; 

 approaching the winter-colouring of that sex, but with the black of 

 the upper parts replaced by brown, and the bars across the wings 

 much less prominent. 



The Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus). 



The sexes are similar in plumage, but the female is smaller than 

 the male, and has a shorter wing ; doubtless the beak shows the 

 same differences as in other species. 



The House Sparrow (Passer domesticus). 



The female is altogether duller and browner than the male. The 

 broad borders to the feathers of the mantle and back being tawny 

 rather than chestnut ; the eyebrow line and bar on the wing are less 

 pure and distinct; the under parts browner, with no black on 

 throat and chest. In an article which I published in The Zoologist 

 in 1900, pp. 74, 75, I pointed out that comparisons of the total 

 length in the flesh of individuals of this species, with the relative 

 length of their wings, conclusively proved that the wing of the 

 female was out of all proportion shorter than that of the male ; 

 where the largest hen exceeded the largest cock in size, her wing 

 measured half an inch less in entire length. 



