z6o o^^ciTHOLogr. BookII. 



To avoid the peril of fcouring Olina advifes to let him have always a piece of chalk 

 in his Cage. 



§. III. 



The greater red-headed Linnet : Linaria rubra major. 



T His is ibmething lefs than the common Linnet : Its Bill fhort, thick, of a Coni- 

 cal figure like the Chaffinches, the upper Chap black, the lower at the bale 

 white.- The Tongue (harp, and as it were cut off, as in the Chaffinch: The Nofthrils 

 round: The Eyes hazel-coloured. The crown of the head adorned with a red or 

 fanguine colour, but not very bright and fhining. The reft of the Head and Neck 

 round about are cinereous. The Shoulders, Back, and covert feathers of the Wings 

 are red. The Breaft is tinctured with red. The (ides under the Wings are of a yel- 

 lowilhred or fpadiceous colour. Theoutmoft quil-feathers of the Wings are black 

 the inner dusky. The exteriour edges of the eight outmoft, excluding the £rft are 

 white, the whi^e from the bottom towards the top extending it felf in breadth in eve- 

 ry feather more and more in order, till in the ninth feather it reaches almoft to the 

 tip. Thefe white edges in the Wing complicated concur to make up a white foot 

 externally confpicuous. From the ninth the tips of the fixth or feventh iucceeding 

 are blunt and indented. The interiour margins of all the quil-feathers are white and 

 the tips alfo of thofe toward the body, or fetting on of the Wing. The Tail is fome- 

 thing forked, two inches and an half long, made up of the ufual -number of twelve 

 feathers 5 all (harp-pointed, and of two colours, both edges, as well inner as outer 

 being white, but the outer more 5 which colour in the extreme or outmoft feathers 

 takes up almoft half the breadth of the exteriour Web ; In the reft it grows narrower 

 and narrower by degrees to the middlemoft, which are almoft wholly black, the very 

 extreme edges only remaining white. The feathers incumbent on the Tail in the middle 

 along the (haft are dusky, their outfides being white. It hath fmall Legs and Feet of a 

 reddifti dusky colour, but not perfectly black 5 black Claws,the hinder thebiggeft,the 

 two outer Claws equal one to the other : There is alio the like cohefion between the 

 outmoft and middle toes, as in other birds. 



In the Female neither is the Back bay, nor the crown or Breaft red 5 but the Back 

 dusky, with a tincture of green, the Breaft of a dirty yellow, varied with dusky 

 fpots. The other notes agree in both Sexes. 



It weighs five drachms, from tip of Bill to end of Tail is five inches and an half 

 long 5 to the end of the Claws but five. A line of nine inches and a quarter mea- 

 fures the Wings ftretcht out. It is common on the Sea-coafts. 



$. IV. 



The leffier red-headed Linnet : Linaria rubra minor. 



THis is leffer than the precedent. The Back coloured like the common Linnet : 

 The forehead adorned with a remarkable fhining red fpot; The Bill like that 

 Of the greater red Linnet, but lefs : The Breaft red 5 the lower Belly white. The 

 prime feathers of the Wings and Tail dusky : The Tail about two inches long, and 

 fomething forked. The outmoft borders or edges of the Wing and Tail-feathers 

 round are white. 



The Legs and Feet are dusky 3 the Claws black, and long for the bignefs of the 

 bird 3 but the Legs very fhort. The like cohefion or adnafcency of the outmoft and 

 middle toe at bottom, as in other fmall birds. 



In this kind the JPemale alio hath a fpot on her head, but more dilute than that of 

 the Cock, and of a Saffron colour. 



.This Bird differs from the precedent ra/ Linnet in many particulars. 1. In that it 

 "felefs: 2. That it hath a letter and (harper Bill : 3. That the Hen agrees with the 

 Cock in the fpot on its head, though it be paler : 4>That the Legs and Feet in this are 

 Slacker : 5-. That the border of white about the tail-feathers is narrower : 6. That 

 the tips of the fecond row of Wing-feathers being white make a tranfverfe white line 

 crofs the Wing. Laftly, that this Bird is gregarious, flying in flocks, not that. 



^Aldrovandus defcribes two forts of red Linnets, neither of which agrees with either 

 of ours in all points. See their defcription in his Ornithology. 



