LINNET. 109 



silvery margins of the inner webs. The beak is lead- 

 coloured at the base, and dusky at the tip ; the iris hazel ; 

 the legs reddish-brown. This is the plumage of the height 

 of summer, after time has worn off the fringes of the 

 feathers, and left their colours distinctly visible, of which 

 we have now several specimens before us. 



After the autumnal moult, the red feathers of the breast 

 and head are bordered with brown, the chesnut feathers 

 of the back obscured with dusky shades, and paler edges, 

 and the flanks streaked with dusky along the shafts of 

 the feathers. 



The females present a very different appearance. Their 

 upper plumage is dusky brown, the feathers upon the 

 wings, back, and scapulars, broadly edged with chesnut 

 brown : the feathers upon the top of the head and ear- 

 coverts are edged with brownish-ash : the chin and a 

 narrow collar extending beneath the ear-coverts, dirty 

 Avhite. The whole under parts of the body are rufous- 

 brown, with broad dusky streaks along the shafts of the 

 feathers. The quill- feathers of the wings and tail, are 

 the same as in the male, but there is less white upon the 

 outer webs of the wings. The female is believed seldom 

 or never to acquire the red colours upon the head and 

 breast that distinguish the males. 



The female of this species is considered to be smaller 

 in size than the male ; and we have frequently remarked, 

 that some males look smaller than others, which may ac- 

 count for the different dimensions given of this species in 

 the works of different authors. 



Young birds of the year resemble the female ; but, even 

 in the nest, professed bird-catchers distinguish one sex 

 from the other by certain tints of their plumage. 



Birds brought up from the nest are said never to 

 ' acquire the full colours of the adult male at liberty ; and 



