120 



cassell's book of birds. 



head large, the beak short and very pointed, the legs slender, and the feet of moderate length. The 

 wings are short, but concave and rounded, the third and fourth quills being the longest ; the second 

 nearly the same length, and the first shortest of all. The tail is long and forked, the plumage very soft 

 and lax. In the male bird the head, neck, back, wings, tail, and front of the breast are blackish grey, 

 which is darkest upon the head ; the wings are bordered with white, the two outermost tail feathers, 

 the lower part of the breast and belly being also white. The beak is reddish white, and dark at the 

 tip; the eyes are blackish brown. The female is paler than her mate, and marked upon the 

 back with brown. The length of the male bird is five inches and three-quarters, its breadth nearly 

 seven inches ; the female is five and a half inches in length, and eight and a quarter across. 



THE MOUNTAIN FINCH (Fringilla iiwntifringilla). 



This species, which belongs to North America, may be considered the best-known member of its 

 family. " I have travelled," says Wilson, " over the country from North Maine to Georgia, a distance 

 of r,8oo miles, but I do not think there was a day, or indeed an hour, in which I did not see a flock 

 of these birds, often numbering thousands ; and several travellers with whom I conversed gave me 

 similar accounts of their experience." On the other hand, we are told by many American naturalists 

 that the Winter Finch, as its name would show, is only to be met with in these numbers during the 

 winter, and is not seen in the United States during the summer months. It is an inhabitant of the 

 northern mountains of America, where it builds its nest, and from thence it wanders south when winter 

 closes in. This species will occasionally migrate as far as Europe ; and Temminck assures us that 

 several have been captured in Iceland ; indeed, it is upon this authority that we reckon them 

 amongst European birds. Winter Finches are seen in the United States about October, 

 departing about the end of April, and migrating by night ; hosts of them are often found early in 

 the morning in localities where not one was to be seen the evening before. On first arriving they fly 

 about the outskirts of the woods and hedges in parties of from twenty to thirty, but at a later period 



