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3rd July, 1858, and several from Darasun, Dauria, collected by Messrs. Dybowski and Parrex. 

 These eggs vary in size from -§-§ by f § inch to f^ by f^ inch, and are rich blue in colour, darker 

 in tinge than any Bullfinch eggs we have ever seen, sparingly dotted at the larger end with dark- 

 red and blackish-brown spots, which sometimes form an irregular ring round the larger end. In 

 shape they resemble the eggs of the Common Bullfinch, but are, if any thing, slightly more taper 

 at the smaller end. 



We cannot conclude the account of the present species without one word on that much 

 vexed question of the identity of the Fringilla incerta of Risso ; and we feel this to be the more 

 necessary as neither Dr. Bree, in his ' Birds of Europe,' nor Mr. Gould, in the lately published 

 part of the ' Birds of Great Britain,' has said a word on the subject. This doubtful species was 

 first described by Risso (I.e.), who says that it occurs in Italy in the month of November in 

 passage. Some years afterwards Prince Bonaparte figured a supposed male and female in his 

 ' Fauna Italica ;' and we have little doubt that he was right in his identification of the sexes. 

 But at the same time we firmly believe that his figures were taken from birds that had lived in 

 confinement, the female being fairly represented, but the male, on the other hand, defying 

 identification, unless allowance be made for the changes produced by its being kept in a cage 

 (see Mene tries, supra). Every one is aware that Linnets and Redpolls, not to mention other 

 Finches, after having been caged for some time, lose the rose-colour on the head and breast, 

 which turns to saffron-yellow, and never regains its pristine hue. Instances of birds having been 

 shot in a wild state in this dress are not rare ; and the Scarlet Grosbeak forms no exception ; for 

 Radde records a curious specimen of a male bird he procured in which the red colour was 

 replaced by yellow. It is therefore not difficult to imagine that the bird figured by Prince 

 Bonaparte as the male of Chlorospiza incerta is nothing more than a specimen of C. erythrinus 

 which had been confined in a cage. Many interesting notices upon the supposed occurrence of 

 Fringilla incerta in England have been published, chief among which may be mentioned a paper 

 by Professor Newton (P. Z. S. 1862, p. 128), a letter by Mr. G. Dawson Rowley in ' The Ibis' for 

 the same year (p. 385), and, again, a notice by Mr. J. Jenner Weir in the 'Zoologist' for 1867 

 (p. 877). The birds about which Professor Newton wrote are in the collection of Mr. T. J. 

 Monk, of Lewes ; and that gentleman most kindly sent them up to us for inspection. He has 

 kindly sent us the following information in answer to our inquiries : — " Swaysland, of Brighton, 

 has bad, he believes, eight specimens of this Finch (which, with me, has always gone by the 

 name of Fringilla incerta), the first being brought to him about twenty years ago. The two 

 birds in my collection were taken at somewhat long intervals ; the male bird was caught near 

 Shoreham on the 28th of October 1864, and the hen bird near Brighton race-course on 

 November 20th, 1869. Major Spicer, of Esher Place, Surrey, has, I believe, two specimens; 

 Mr. H. Byne, of Taunton, has one ; and Mr. Bond, I think, has two, — which will account for seven 

 out of Swaysland's eight birds. All of them were captured near Brighton, and all, with one 

 exception, in the months of October and November, the exception being a hen bird in full 

 plumage taken in April. - To me these birds savour strongly of a cross between the Linnet and 

 Greenfinch." This last suggestion of Mr. Monk's is undoubtedly correct ; for the birds are 

 undoubtedly hybrids between these last-named species, and are not C. erythrinus. 



Our friend Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., has very kindly given us references to all the supposed 



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