PASSERES. FRINGILLA. 261 
incline to favour a farther division of the genus; but I can- 
not think that such an attempt would prove beneficial to 
science, or that characters of sufficient import would be found 
to mark generic distinctions.. Although a difference in the 
length or thickness of the bill may be visible between two 
species (for instance the Greenfinch and Goldfinch), still it 
will be found, upon the examination of many intermediate 
species, that the passage from one to the other is so gradual 
and imperceptible, as to render it impossible to say precisely 
where the change commences and where it ends. 
The habits and manners of all the species are very similar. 
They subsist upon different seeds and grain, the harder ones 
of which they deprive of the outer covering by means of their 
strong bill. ‘They associate in very large flocks. Their geo- 
graphical distribution is on a very wide scale, some being 
found in all climates, and in all parts of the globe. The 
males of most of the exotic species, and of a few of the Eu- 
ropean, are subject to a double moult; and the livery of 
these in the pairing-season is distinguished by a variety and 
brilliancy of colour. ‘The autumnal or winter’s plumage re- 
sembles that of the female. 
To render the arrangement more conspicuous, and to faci- 
litate the discovery of the numerous species, this genus has 
been divided into three sections (styled by Temmincx Latz- 
cones, Brevicones, and Longicones), a mode that I shall also 
adopt with respect to the British species, 
SECTION I. 
With the bill very thick ; the sides of it bulging; and the 
culmen much rounded. 
