Pie AcT E. Ci 
tions no lefs than eight kinds. One of thefe is like the common 
fort, except the fore part of the head, which is red, and about the 
eyes white. Another, fuppofed to be a mixed breed with the Lark, 
has a flefh-coloured bill, irides yellowifh; head, throat, and neck 
Black, fpotted with red near the bill; breaft, back, fcapulars, and 
rump yellowifh brown; belly, fides, thighs, and under tail coverts, 
white. 
Inftances of Goldfinches wholly white fometimes occur; one 
fpecimen of that kind is preferved in the Leverian Mufeum, and 
another, in which thofe parts only, which are red in the common 
fort, have a gloffy tinge of that colour. A third fort in the fame 
collection, is white except the crown of the head, which is mottled 
with red, and a crefcent of the fame colour under the throat ; the 
wings are yellowith. 
Goldfinches of the oppofite extreme of colour are not uncommon. 
Some are entirely black with a flight trace of red about the head, in 
others even this trace is obliterated. Birds that are fed on hemp feed, 
of which the Goldfinch will eat freely, often become entirely black. 
Buffon mentions one, in which the head only was of that colour. 
Willughby and Ray defcribe a variety that had no red on the head, 
but a faffron-coloured ring furrounded the bill. Brown has another, 
with the head ftriped alternately with red and yellow. Buffon and 
Briffon have a fort, in which the wings and tail are brownith afh- 
colour: and that part dingy, which in the common fort is yellow. 
In young birds of the common fort the head is grey. 
The neft of the Goldfinch is curioufly conftructed of mofs, liver- 
wort, thiftle-down, &c. and lined with wool, hair, and the down of 
the 
