iscsi, Rowe EAN CoH! 
will become fo tame as to come at call, perch on 
its mafter’s fhoulders, and (at command) go through 
a difficult mufical leffon. They may be taught to 
fpeak, and fome thus inftruéted are annually 
brought to London from Germany. 
The male is diftinguifhed from the female by 
the fuperior blacknefs of its crown, and by the rich 
crimfon that adorns the cheeks, breaft, belly, and 
_ throat of the male; thofe of the female being of 
a dirty color: the bill is black, fhort, and very 
thick: the head large: the hind part of the neck 
and the back are grey: the coverts of the wings 
are black; the lower croffed with a white line: the 
guil-feathers dufky, but part of their inner webs 
white: the coverts of the tail and vent feathers 
white: the tail black. 
In the {pring thefe birds frequent our gardens, 
and are very deftructive to ‘our fruit-trees, by 
eating the tender buds. They breed about the 
. . t 
latter end of May, or beginning of Fume, and are 
feldom feen at that time near houfes, as they chufe 
fome very retired place to breed in. ‘Thefe birds 
are fometimes wholly black; I have heard of a 
male bulfinch which had changed its colors after it 
had been taken in full feather, and with all its fine 
teints. The firft year it began to affume a dull 
hue, “blackening every year, till in the fourth it 
attained the deepeft degree of that color. This 
was communicated to me by the Reverend Mr. 
White of Selborne. Mr. Morton, in his Hiftory of 
Northampton- 
DEscRIP. 
