74 SCARLET BULLFINCH. 



colour; the base of all the feathers, as well as a 

 narrow streak along the shafts, of a brown red; rump, 

 sides of the head, throat, front of neck, and chest, 

 of a bright or rose crimson; belly and abdomen of 

 a pure white; back and wing coverts ashy brown, 

 tinged with a little red towards the extremity or tips 

 of the feathers; quill feathers of both wings and tail 

 blackish brown, bordered with reddish; tail forked, 

 beak and feet brown. 



The female has all the upper parts of an ashy 

 brown, with large longitudinal spots of a darker brown; 

 throat and cheeks regularly spotted with white and 

 brown; front of neck and all the under parts of a 

 pure white, marked with large longitudinal spots of 

 dark brown; middle of belly without spots. It is 

 stated that the male adopts in winter the plumage of 

 the female. — (Temminck.) 



The young males are not red in the first year; they 

 have a remote similarity to the female of our Linnets, 

 but are distinguished from them by having more of 

 a greenish tint pervading the whole plumage, especially 

 through the yellowish borders of the wing feathers; 

 the head, under part of the neck, back, and shoulders, 

 as well as the wing coverts, are brown grey, but 

 something brighter on the borders of those feathers 

 which are of a greenish colour; rump dirty yellow 

 green; the dirty white throat has doAvn its sides small 

 brownish feathers, which become larger on the upper 

 part of the breast, where the ground is also brownish, 

 but on the sides is shaded into brownish grev; belly 

 and under wing feathers dirty white, without spots; 

 the dark brown wing feathers have on the outer side 

 a yellow greenish bordering, which makes them brighter; 

 beak and feet are like those of the old male, but of 



