70 



SCARLET BULLFINCH. 



Specific Characters. — Rump red or ash-coloured; abdomen pure 

 white. The first primary equal in length to the third, and 

 shorter than the second. Length five inches and a half; carpus 

 to tip three inches and a half; expanse of wing ten to eleven 

 inches; the closed wing reaches to two inches and a half of the 

 length of the tail; tarsus nine to ten lines; middle toe seven 

 lines, and its claw three lines; hinder toe four lines, and its 

 claw three lines. — Natjmann. 



The Bullfinches are a beautiful race of birds, and 

 bow much soever our own British species is valued 

 for this quality in our eyes, it is perhaps surpassed 

 by the subjects of the present and following notice. 



The Scarlet Bullfinch inhabits the regions of the 

 arctic circle, in the north of Europe and Asia. It is 

 found in Sweden, Finland, B/ussia, and Siberia, more 

 particularly near the Kivers Volga, Samara, Oder, and 

 Selenga. It occurs solitarily in Courland and in Poland; 

 and Naumann especially mentions having found it in the 

 summer of 1819, on Sylt, one of the islands on the 

 west coast of Jutland. It occurs accidentally in France, 

 Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, and Central Germany, and 

 has been captured at Hesse, on the Rhine. Degland 

 mentions that individuals have been shot at Abbeville, 

 at Tournai, in the neighbourhood of Milan, and on 

 the Swiss Alps ; and Nordmann tells us, in the "Faune 

 Politique," that it comes regularly in spring into the 

 Botanic Gardens at Odessa, either singly or in pairs, 

 and that it is common in the provinces situated to 

 the east of the Black Sea. It is mentioned by Count 

 Muhle as occurring in Greece, under the name of 

 Pyrrhula Sinaica. 



During the summer it is essentially a northern bird, 

 but in the autumn it migrates southwards. If it stays 

 the winter, it is found more especially in the neigh- 



