SCARLET BULLFINCH. 
73 
neighbourhood where little can escape the eye, the 
beautifully-plumaged songster, was easily recognised, 
and, as we did not like to shoot it, we placed our- 
selves at a short distance, where, unseen, we were 
able to observe it for a considerable time. It may 
be an agreeable cage-bird, but in confinement the red 
plumage turns into a permanent yellowish green.” 
The Scarlet Bullfinch lives xipon various kinds of 
seeds, more especially, according to Dubois, those of, 
an oily nature, as well as those of the elm or alder. 
Xaumann also suggests that it feeds upon the seeds 
of the reeds, among which it likes to live. The same 
authority informs us that it nests among the woody 
plantations in the neighbourhood of St. Petersburg. 
The nest is formed of wool, dry grass stalks, and 
twigs, and lined with feathers and horse-hair. It lays 
five or six eggs, light green, spotted at the larger 
end with small black dots. 
Brehm, in Badeker’s work upon European eggs, has 
the following notice of the nidification of this bird: — 
“They nest in the thick woods and bushes of Siberia, 
in Lausatia, in the neighbourhood of Galitz, in Galicia, 
and in Poland — near Warsaw, where it is found in 
swampy situations overgrown with alder trees. Once, 
in June, it was met with, paired, in Penthendorf. 
The nest is placed in a bush, and is made of moss, 
sticks, dry twigs, and sheep’s wool, and is lined with 
hair and wool. The eggs arc a lively blue green 
in colour, more or less marked with black or brownish 
dots and spots on the larger end. They are inclined 
to pear-shape in form, without, like the other Bull- 
finches, being sw'ollen in the middle.” 
The male in breeding plumage has the small feathers 
in the nostrils and around the neck, of a dull rose- 
