ORNITHOLOGY. 



581 



Insessores. quella capanna, o quella citta, la passera anche essa l'abban- 

 s— -v— — ' dona. Chi, girando nelle maremme, passa per antiche e dis- 

 abitate abbazie, per fortilizi, o ville in rovini, vedra dalle 

 finestre piu elevate di quelle, fuggire de' piccioni insalva- 

 tichiti, udira gridar la civetta che abita fra li spacchi de' 

 muri vestiti d'ellera e parietaria, vedra la ballerina conti- 

 nuare a fabbricarvi il nido, ma in vano egli la cerchera il vo- 

 latile parasito dell' Europeo, quella specie d'uccello che pri- 

 ma per il numero ogni altro ne superava in quel luogo. 

 Cosi nel modo stesso che una figura geometrica vista sulla 

 sabbia fu giudicata dal naufraga Filosofo per un segno certo 

 della vicinanza dell'uomo, per un tal segno ancora puo 

 ritenersi la presenza delle passere." 1 In regard to our.own 

 species, Savi observes, " non mi e noto se ne stiano anche 

 in Lombardia, ma so di certo che alcuno giammai ne e stato 

 visto in Toscana." According to Temminck, the boundary 

 of the latter species is the great chain of the Alps, on the 

 southern slopes of which it disappears in favour of the cis- 

 alpine kind. But it is our common British sparrow which 

 occurs about Trieste, and through the north of Dalmatia, 

 although separated from the region of P. cisalpinu only by 

 the waters of the Adriatic. " I costumi," adds the Ita- 

 lian author, " di queste due specie sono precisamente gli 

 stessi. Io ho accuratamente ed in varj tempi osservate 

 le abitudini della F. domestica, tanto in Svizzera che nel 

 settentrione della Francia, e posso assicurare che le stesse 

 sono di quelle della nostra specie Italiana." 2 



In the restricted genus Fringilla, Cuv., the bill is ra- 

 ther less arched than in the sparrows, and a little stronger 

 and more lengthened than among the linnets. Cuvier in- 

 cludes in it the chaffinch (F. ccelebs), the mountain-finch or 

 brambling (F. montifringilld), and the snow-finch (F. ni- 

 valis). The latter is scarcely ever found except in the 

 near vicinity of ice and snow, and may be regarded (in 

 common with Accenter alpinus) as the most mountainous 

 of all the smaller birds of Europe. Yet though wild and 

 solitary in our estimation, from associating it with the 

 desolate scenery of the rock-surrounded glaciers, it is beau- 

 tiful to see how, in the neighbourhood of the lonely shep- 

 herd chalets of the Alps, it loves to humanise its feelings ; 

 and how, among the few sad dwellings of the Mount Cenis, 

 and other lofty passes, it perches on the roofs of houses, 

 hops about the beaten foot-paths, and builds among dis- 

 mantled yet protecting walls. In winter it seeks subal- 

 pine regions, or the snow-covered valleys of Piedmont, but 

 scarcely ever migrates to the lowest plains. It is unknown 

 in Tuscany. 



In the genus Carduelis, Cuv., the bill is more exactly 

 conic, without bulging in any portion, and is rather length- 

 ened. We may name as an example, our beautiful, live- 

 ly, and intelligent goldfinch (C. elegans, Steph., — F. car- 

 duelis, Linn.), a bird widely distributed over Europe, and 

 extending from the sultry shores of the Mediterranean to 

 the plains of Siberia. It occurs in Holland only as a bird 

 of passage. The siskin (F. spinus) is by some considered 

 as a Carduelis, while others place it with the group which 

 follows, viz. genus Linaria, Bechstein, in which the bill 

 is equally conical, but not so long. Here we place our 

 gray linnets and red-poles, among which the more or less 

 decided crimson" tinting of the breast and forehead, accord- 

 ing to age and season, has occasioned some confusion. Our 

 common or gray linnet (F. cannabina, Linn., — F. linota, 

 Gmel.) is, in the perfect nuptial plumage, synonymous with 

 the rose-linnet and greater red-pole. Our lesser red-pole 

 is the F. linaria of Linn. ; and the only other British spe- 

 cies is the twyte or mountain-linnet, F. monlium, Gmel., 

 formerly regarded as a bird of passage, but now known to 

 breed in the northern counties of Scotland, if not else- 

 where in Britain. We have caught the young ones, half- 



fledged, among the Grampian Mountains. The amount Insessores. 

 of foreign species is considerable. Of these, one of the^"" "V"-' 

 most remarkable for its musical powers is the well-known 

 canary (F. canaria, Linn.), a native of the Cape de Verd 

 and other islands, where its natural plumage is green. It 

 breeds readily in confinement with the linnet, goldfinch, 

 siskin, and other species. 



The genus Vidua, Cuv., contains some remarkable spe- 

 cies, with the bill more inflated at the base than the pre- 

 ceding, but chiefly characterized by the extreme elonga- 

 tion of the caudal plumage of the males. They inhabit 

 India and Africa, and were placed by Linnaeus among the 

 buntings. 



The genus Coccothraustes, Cuv., containing the 

 gross-beaks, has the bill very conical, but of extreme thick- 

 ness at the base, and rapidly tapering to the point. m The 

 culmen is rounded, the commissure slightly arched. " The 

 species occur in America, as well as in the ancient con- 

 tinents. The haw-finch ( C. vulgaris, — Loxia coccothraus- 

 tes, Linn.) visits the southern parts of Britain occasional- 

 ly during winter, and is even said to have been found 

 breeding in Windsor Forest. It feeds upon the larger kinds 

 of seeds and berries, which it is enabled to bruise and 

 break at pleasure, by means of the great strength of its 

 bill. The evening gross-beak (C. vespertina, Cooper) 

 is a beautiful American species, with the frontal feathers 

 and a line above the eye yellow, the crown, wings, and 

 tail black, the secondaries and inner wing-coverts white, 

 the bill pale yellow. This newly-discovered bird inhabits 

 the solitudes of the north-western interior, being met with 

 from the extremity of the Michigan territory to the Rocky 

 Mountains, and it is not uncommon towards the upper end 

 of Lake Superior and the borders of the Athabasca Lake. 

 To the east of these regions it appears to be only a tran- 

 sient visitor during spring and autumn. Our homely and 

 heavy-headed green linnet (C. chloris, Fleming), of which 

 the mature male is a rich and beautifully plumaged bird, 

 belongs to our present genus. It is probable that the 

 Fringilla incerta of Risso, figured by M. Roux (in his 

 Ornithologie Provencale), is nearly allied. It is one of the 

 rarest of the European birds, appearing occasionally du- 

 ring the autumn in Provence, and likewise occurring in 

 the vicinity of Palermo. 



In the genus Pitylus, Cuv., are contained a few spe- 

 cies (almost all, we believe, from South America), in which 

 the bill, though thick, as in the preceding, is rather com- 

 pressed, arched above, and has sometimes a projecting 

 angle in the middle of the margin of the upper mandible. 

 Such are the Loxia grossa, Portoricensis, &c. 



In the genus Pyrrhula, in which the bill is shorter and 

 greatly bulged, we have the bullfinches, of which our British 

 species, P. vulgaris, Temm., — L. pyrrhula, Linn., is awell- 

 known example. It is very generally distributed through- 

 out our wooded districts, but is nowhere very abundant, 

 and may be called scarce in several quarters of the island. 



In the genus Loxia of Brisson, as now restricted, the 

 bill is compressed, and the two mandibles so curved and 

 deflected, that when closed they cross each other. This 

 extraordinary structure is supposed to afford the species 

 great facility in stripping the scales from the well-protect- 

 ed seeds of the various kinds of pine-trees. The cross- 

 bills are few in number, and occur both in Europe and 

 America. Their habits as breeding birds are little 

 known, but the period of incubation must be very early, as 

 L. curvirostra sometimes visits this country in small flocks 

 as early as June. Temminck says, somewhat vaguely, in 

 regard to the parrot-billed species (L. pyliopsittacus), that 

 it " niche en hiver dans nos climats, sur les branches de 

 sapin ; en Livonie l'espece niche des les mois de Mais." 



Ornitologla Toscana, t. ii. p. 100. 



s Ibid. p. 106. 



