'i/iMi^qri-'- 



( H) 



The common Grasheak. Coccothrauftes vulgaris. 



Numb. LVL 



n/jj If' '^^ Length Is feven Inches from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail ; Breadth 



^7 ' \ when the Wings are expanded, twelve Inches and a half ; Weight one Ounce and thir- 



teen Drams : its Head is too large in Proportion to its Body ; its Bill is three quarters of 

 an Inch long; the Circumference at the Bafc two Inches and a quarter, very hard, broad, 

 and ending in a fharp Point of the Figure of a Cone, having a large Cavity within of a. 

 whitilh flefh Colour and the tip of a blackiflij the Eyes are grey or afh-coloured 

 as in the Jack-daws -, the Tongue feems as it were cut off as in the Chaffinch ; the Feet 

 are of a pale flefli Colour; the Claws great, efpecially thofe of the middle and back Toes; 

 the middle Toe is the longeft; the outer fore Toe and back Toe are equal to each other. 



At the Bafe of the Bill grow orange-coloured Feathers > between the Bill and the Eyes 

 black ; the lower Chap in the Males is compaiTed with a Border of black Feathers ; the 

 Head of a yeliowHh red, or rufty Colour; the Neck cinereous; the Back red, the middle 

 Part of the Feathers being whitifh; the Rump from yellow inclines to cinereous; the Sides 

 and Breaft, but efpecially the Sides, are of a mixt Colour of red and cinereous ; under the 

 Tail and in the middle of the Belly the Plumage is whiter. 



The quill Feathers in each Wing are eighteen in Number, of which the ten foremoft 

 for half Way from the Shaft inward are white, the white Part from the firft inward being 

 dilated ; of the fubfequent one half is white but not fo far as the Shaft i the three inmoft 

 or thofe next the Body are red; the Tips of all from the fecond to the tenth £hine with a 

 changeable Colour of purple and blue, like the Necks of Pigeons ; from the tenth to 

 the exterior Borders of the fixth and feventh and the fucceeding grey, or elfe dufky ; the 

 Tail is but fhort of about two Inches long, compofed of twelve Feathers, fpotted on the- 

 Top of their interior Vanes with white, on their exterior in the middle Feathers with red,,. 

 and in the outer with black. 



It is common in Germany and Italy; in the Summer it lives in the Mountains and- 

 Woods, and in the Winter it frequents the Valleys and plains; it fcldom comes over to us. 

 in Englaitd but in hard Winters ; it breaks the Stones of Cherries and Olives with Expedi-^ 

 tion, the Kernels of which it is very greedy ; when diffedted in the Month of December, 

 there are Stones of Holly-berries found in the Stomach ; it likewife feeds on the Kernels 

 of the Hawthorn-tree, the Stones of which it cracks with Eafe, from which fome call 

 it the Hawfifich. 



The 



