220 PASSERES. 
per part of the back having their centers brownish-black. 
Wing-coverts margined with yellowish-white, and form- 
ing a double transverse bar across the wings. Chin and 
throat white, passing into pale sienna-yellow upon the 
sides of the breast. Upper parts of the breast having cb- 
long spots of brown. Sides and flanks spotted with 
brown. Middle of the belly, and the under tail-coverts 
greyish-white ; sometimes tinged with pale sienna-yellow. 
Tail having the two middle feathers pointed, of a brown 
colour, tinged with oil-green; the exterior feather, with 
the whole of the outer, and the greater part of the inner 
web white, and with the tip of the second feather also 
white. Legs and toes yellowish-brown. Hind claw 
short and curved. 
The female is similar to the male bird. 
DIVISION IT. 
Bill more or less conical, short, and strong; culmen more 
or less dilated, and advancing upon the forehead. Feet, with 
three toes before, and one behind ; the anterior ones entirely 
divided. Wings of_ mean length. 
The food of this division of the seventh order (Passeres) 
consists chiefly of grain, and other seeds, which the strength, 
form, and hardness of their bills enables them easily to free 
from the exterior husk, or other covering. But during the 
season of rearing their young, the majority of this tribe teed 
them with insects and larvee, as well as with portions of their 
usual diet. They live in pairs; and many of the species 
congregate in numerous flocks during the winter, or at the 
period of their migrations. The moult is smgle in most of 
the European species, but a great proportion of the exotic 
ones moult twice in the year; and the males, during the 
pairing season, are adorned with an extraordinary production, 
or an elongation of certain feathers, or else clothed in a plu- 
