60 



coverts tipped with light brown ; tail deeply forked, blackish brown, the outer rectrices margined on 

 the inner web with white, and almost all externally narrowly edged with the same colour ; a streak 

 over the eye, sides of the face below the eye, and throat warm tawny buff; lower throat and sides of 

 the breast streaked with blackish brown on a warm tawny buff ground ; rest of the underparts white ; 

 bill yellow; iris brown; legs black. Total length about 5 - 5 inches, culmen - 4, wing 2"95, tail 255, 

 tarsus - 65. 



Adult Female (Hampstead, 13th October) . Resembles the male, but has the upper parts lighter, the red on 

 the rump is wanting, and the underparts are less white. 



Young. Resembles the female, but has the margins to the feathers on the upper parts, especially the wing- 

 coverts, rather more clearly defined. 



The Twite or Mountain-Finch inhabits Europe generally, breeding in the northern portions, and 

 wintering in the southern countries. 



In Great Britain it is only a visitant to the southern and eastern portions of England, but 

 breeds in some of the midland counties, and in the west and north. Professor Newton says that 

 " in the south-west, Devonshire and Cornwall, it is of very rare occurrence indeed ; but it breeds 

 in some abundance in the more hilly districts of the midland counties — Hereford, Salop, Stafford, 

 Derby, and Chester, as well as in North Wales and the Isle of Man, and on elevated moorlands 

 in the higher glens, with increasing frequency northward from Lancashire and the West Riding 

 of Yorkshire." Mr. Stevenson states that it is only an occasional visitant to Norfolk during the 

 seasons of passage, and is decidedly scarce compared with the Siskin and other species of Redpoll ; 

 but Mr. Cordeaux says that it visits the Humber district regularly in the autumn, and during mild 

 winters small flocks remain throughout the season in the vicinity of the coast. He has shot them 

 on the Humber marshes as early as the 10th of August. 



In Scotland it is very generally distributed, and breeds throughout the country. Mr. Robert 

 Gray says that the stronghold of this species in the west of Scotland is unquestionably the Outer 

 Hebrides, but that on the mainland, though not quite so abundant, it is still numerous, extending 

 from north to south. In the east of Scotland it is much less numerous than in the west, but is 

 nevertheless a well-known species. Mr. Harvie-Brown says that it is a common species in many 

 parts of Sutherlandshire, avoiding, however, wooded or cultivated parts, though exceptions may 

 be found. It affects the neighbourhood of the sea-shore or sheltered localities near the long 

 arms of the sea so numerous on the west coast. Dr. Saxby states that it is resident and extremely 

 common on the Shetland Isles. In Ireland, according to Thompson, it is resident, and found 

 from the north to the south of the island ; but Professor Newton adds that the only counties in 

 which he knows it to breed are Donegal, Tyrone, Armagh, and Antrim in the north, Sligo and 

 Mayo in the west, Dublin and Wicklow in the east, and Tipperary and Cork in the south. 



It does not occur in Iceland ; nor do I find it recorded from the Fseroes ; but it is not 

 uncommon in Scandinavia. Mr. Collett informs me, " it breeds here and there along the 

 entire west coast of Norway up to Finmark, but it is scattered, and on the whole nowhere 

 common. I found it most numerous on the islands of Bergen Stift, and on the Trondhjemsfiord 

 and on Hitteren. North of the arctic circle it was met with by Godman at Bodo, by Boie in the 



