88 THE SPECIES. 



/arely indeed straggles over here across the Atlantic. ITie male's bill is greyish blue, the 

 femaie's blackish grey. 



The Goldeneye — Dimensions, Oi ; Eggs, Pd — is one of our regular winter visitors. It 

 makes a great splash as it rises, atid a great noise as it flies with its whistling wings. Its 

 note is a loud "Icr-kroak/* The male's bill is black, the female's brown. This duck lays 

 its eggs ifi the hole of a tree as if it were a Woodpecker. There is no nest beyond the chips 

 of wood that may be in the hole. The clutch ranges from lo to 19. 



Coccothraustes. Plate vii. FRINGILLIN^ (Passeridse). 



92. vulgaris^ 7 in. Hawfinch. Chestnut brown above ; nape grey ; 



wings purplish black; five inner primaries jagged 



or hooked at the tips ; black patch on chin ; bill 



bluish or pinkish and very large. 



The Hawfinch — Dimensions, Fe ; Eggs, Fb — is a resident reinforced in winter by 



migrants from the north. It is at once recognisable by its large beak. Its flight is generally 



an undulated one, but often it is straight and rapid. Its song is a whistle of four notes in aj 



ascending scale, and its call is a "click." The female has much less black on the throat 



than the male, and has the secondaries edged with bluish grey. The nest is a large edition 



of the bullfinch's, usually in an old tree from 5 to 25 feet from the ground, built of small 



twigs and grey lichens lined with rootlets and hair, but with a very shallow cavity for the 



eggs, which are from four to six in number. 



Coccystes. Plate xii. CUCULIDM. 



158. glandarius, 16 in. Great Spotted Cuckoo. Crest, head, and 



nape bluish grey streaked with black ; plumage 

 brown above, white beneath ; wings spotted with 

 white. 



A Great Spotted Cuckoo — Dimensions, Nb ; Eggs, Ia — appeared off the coast of 

 Connemara, in 1842, and another was bagged in Northumberland in 1870. These are the 

 only two instances on record of the species ever visiting these islands. 



Coccyzus. Plate xii. CUCULIDJE:. 



159. americanus, 13 in. Yellow-billed Cuckoo. D^rk drab above. 



greyish white below ; tail black, tipped with white, 

 except the centre feathers, which are of the same 

 toluur as the back ; bill yellow. 

 160. erytkropktkalmus, 13 in. Black-billed Cuckoo. Brown above, white 



below ; bill black. 

 The Yellow-billed Cuckoo — Dimensions, Kq ; Eggs, Hp — is the American Rain-bird. 

 Its cry is "cow, cow, cow, cow, cow." Unlike our Cuckoo it generally builds its own nesit 

 and hatches its own eggs. It has only been recognised in Britain twice, and twice in Ireland. 

 The Black-billed Cuckoo— Dimensions, Kp ; Eggs, Gm— is another American of normal 

 breeding arrangements. Only once, however, has he crossed the Atlantic, and that was to 

 be shot at Belfast, in 1871. Like the Yellow-bills he probably came by steamboat. 



ColumDa. Plate xxiii. COLUMBIDjE. 



265. livia, IT in. RocK Dove. Bill black; plumage bluish grey; 



rump white ; two broad black bars on wings ; 



axillaries white ; legs dark red. 



264. <Bnas, 13 in. Stock Dove. Bill red at base, white at tip ; 



plumage bluish grey ; green patch on neck ; one 



bar only on wing and that brown and incomplete ; 



axillaries grey ; legs coral red. 



263. palumbuSf 16 in. Ring Dove. Bill red at base, yellow at tip ; 



plumage brownish grey ; white patch on neck ; 



white on outer wing coverts ; legs bright red. 



The Rock Dove— Dimensions, Jp ; Eggs^ Jd— is to be found all the year round on our 



coasts wherever there are high cliffs and deep caves. It rarely is seen on a tree, as it always 



alights on a rock or on the ground. Like all the pigeons it bobs its head as it walks. As it 



rises it beats the ground with its wings and produces a peculiar crackle by doing so ; its 



flight is rapid ; and so powerfully are the wings worked that they whistle as they flap. Its 



note is " coo-coo-roo-coo. " The female is smaller than the male and duller about the neck. 



