78 ROSY BULLFINCH. 



sides of neck, and chest, crimson red; belly and under 

 tail coverts rosy white; primaries and tail quills brown, 

 edged with rose on the outside; beak and feet clear 

 brown. 



In the young before the first moult the entire plu- 

 mage is of a reddish grey, longitudinally spotted with 

 brown; with two bands of reddish yellow on the wing, 

 and the rump yellowish. After the first moult a little 

 white appears on the forehead, and the red becomes 

 more brilliant while the spots disappear: thus the 

 specimen described by Pallas as having white only on 

 the forehead, and with its plumage browner, must 

 have been a young bird after moulting. — (Temminck.) 

 The folloAving is from Naumann's account of this 

 bird, which I insert to make my description as complete 

 as possible. I quote from the above accurate observer's 

 beautiful work on the "Birds of Germany," a work, 

 which I may take this opportunity of saying, is, in 

 my opinion, both for full and elaborate description, 

 and for the beauty and natural expression of its illus- 

 trations, perhaps unrivalled in ornithological literature. 

 — "The size is that of a Mountain Finch, and larger 

 than the Common Linnet, but in contour it somewhat 

 resembles them both. The beak is reddish grey, the 

 root of the superior mandible being yellowish; the 

 round nostrils are ornamented with stiff small feathers, 

 and the iris is rust brown. The brownish yellow feet 

 are tolerably strong and robust; the claws, not very 

 large, but sharp, are dark brown at the tip, but have 

 otherwise the colour of the feet. 



"The old male has two distinct characters of plu- 

 mage, — brown, and a splendid carmine red; and the 

 last, with which the whole bird seems to be suffused, 

 makes it one of the most beautiful of northern birds. 



