430 HOUSE FINCH. 



ash-colour ; and is without any black on the chin 

 or neck. 



Dr. Latham mentions many varieties of this 

 bird, of which the following are the most remark- 

 able : the first is entirely of a dirty white, with 

 yellow beak and irides : the next yellowish, with 

 a chesnut tinge on the upper parts ; and the last 

 is of a dull black, with a yellow beak : the white 

 variety is the most common, and is likewise sub- 

 ject to still farther variety, as some are brown 

 above, and white beneath ; others spotted with 

 black on the throat ; and many have a spot on the 

 crown of the head ; the nape of the neck, and 

 the back, being brown. 



This bird occurs in most parts of Europe, but 

 is most numerous among towns and inhabited 

 places, where it builds in any spot that will afford 

 it admittance, as a hole in the wall, or under the 

 roofs of houses : it makes a very slovenly nest, 

 composed of hay, and lined with a few feathers : 

 it lays rive or six reddish-white eggs, slightly 

 speckled with brown : it will sometimes drive 

 the Martins from their nests, and will occa- 

 sionally build in trees; but when that is the 

 case, it takes more pains with its nest, making it 

 much larger than usual*, of hay and straw, cover- 

 ing it at the top, and lining it warmly with feathers, 

 bits of cloth, thread, worsted, or any thing of that 

 kind foun \ about houses: its food consists princi- 

 pally of grarOj but it will partake of all kinds of 



* Dr. Leach informed me that he observed several of these 

 nests in the avenues round the Jardin des Plantes. 



