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O R D. III. GEN. VI. FINC H. 



SPE. V. GOLDFINCH. 



PL 75 . 



Fringilla Carduelis. Lin. Syjl. I. p. 3 1 8. 

 Le Chardonneret. Brif. III. p. 53. 



The bill of this bird is white, with a black point : the bafe of the beak is furrounded 

 with bright fcarlet feathers : from the bill to the eye is a black line : top of the head 

 black : cheeks white, bounded to the throat with black, from the crown of the head, and 

 finifhing in a point: back yellowifh brown: breaft and rump pale brown: belly dingy 

 white : lefs wing coverts yellow ; greater, black with white ends : quills dufky black, 

 their outer webs of a rich yellow colour, and the ends white : tail a little forked, and 

 black ; the outer webs of the two outer feathers, and the tips of the middle ones, white : 

 legs pale brown. 



The female may be diftinguifhed from the male by the dulnefs of the black, the pale- 

 nefs of the yellow, and the feathers round the bafe of the bill being of a pale orange co- 

 lour, which in the male are fcarlet. The young birds of this fpecies have a grey head, 

 without the fcarlet or black, and are then called grey pates by the bird fanciers. 



This bird fings in cages mod part of the year. Its domeftic cheerfulnefs, and the beauty 

 of its plumage makes it much coveted. It is a hardy bird, and feeds on canary, hemp, 

 and linfeed. In the (late of nature thiftle and dock feeds are its favourite food. It ufu- 

 ally makes its neft in fruit trees, laying four or five eggs. On the approach of winter 

 goldfinches affemble in flocks, and travel together in queft of food : in march they return 

 to their fummer refidence. This bird is frequently paired with the canary bird, and thus 

 breeds a pretty party coloured variety in feathers : but here nature puts a flop, and as the 

 offspring of this union cannot breed again, they are called mules. It will likewife breed 

 with the linnet and filkin. The Creator's omnipotence is ftrikingly confpicuous in this, 

 that when by accident, or the artifice of man, two creatures of different fpecies breed to- 

 gether, the produce from that unnatural connexion is for ever tied up in a ftate of bar- 

 rennefs, which keeps the grand fyftem of nature diftincT:, and without confufion, as the 

 Creator firft formed it. 



For the egg fee PI. XVII. Fig. 3. 



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