BULLFINCHES. 
43 
A gentleman in this neighbourhood had two milk-white rooks 
in one nest. A booby of a carter, finding them before they 
were able to fly, threw them down and destroyed them, to the 
regret of the owner, who would have been glad to have pre- 
served such a curiosity in his rookery. I saw the birds myself 
nailed against the end of a barn, and was surprised to find that 
their bills, legs, feet, and claws were milk-white. 
A shepherd saw, as he thought, some white larks on a down 
above my house this winter : were not these the emberiza nivalis, 
the snow-flake of the Brit. Zool. ? No doubt they were.* 
A few years ago I saw^a cock bullfinch in a cage, which had 
been caught in the fields after it was come to its full colours. 
In about a year it began to look dingy ; and, blackening every 
succeeding year, it became coal-black at the end of four. Its 
^mMfifZa/oina), now extremely rare in the south-eastern counties, and the yellow-breasted marten 
{mustela martes), which is chiefly found in Wales and Scotland, being everywhere an inhabitant 
of wilder and more elevated districts than the other. — Ed. 
* Snow-flecks {plectrophanes nivalis of modern naturalists) are but very rarely observed south of 
the metropolis, even in severe winters. They are visitants from the extreme north, lively and 
interesting birds, allied to the buntings, being modifications of that form, approximating in 
several particulars toward the larks, that can either run like the one or hop like the other, but 
which in general use the former mode of progression, having the hind claw lengthened as in the 
lark genus, though not (in the common and typical species) to such an extent. The wing is 
differently formed from either, being more pointed, and not exhibiting any elongation of the 
tertiary feathers, as is more or less the case with all the members of both those genera. In the 
countries where they breed, they are said to sing upon the wing like larks, though I should sus- 
pect, from the diverse shape of the organs of flight, not exactly in the same manner. Here they 
are very gregarious, frequenting the open country, and are never seen to perch — at least upon 
trees, which however they do with perfect facility in confinement. They are restless, seldom 
remaining long in one situation, fly rather swiftly, and like starlings in a compact body, and 
"frequently before settling on the ground," as is well remarked by Mr. Sell)}-, " they make 
sudden wheels, coming almost in collision with each other, at which time a peculiar guttural 
note is produced." Their call-note is pleasing (a sort of chee-urt), and is often repeated during 
their flight. They are hardy and healthy birds in captivity, but do not moult well, and in the 
cage are always remarkably uneasy and restless during the night, at which time their peculiar 
shrill call-note is often uttered. "Their song," as Bechsteen correctly observes, " would be 
rather agreeable, were it not interrupted in a peculiar manner ! it is a warbling mingled with 
some high noisy notes, descending slowly from shrill to deep, and a little strong and broken 
whistling." They are fond of bathing, or rather of sprinkling themselves with water, but their 
plumage being very close and thick, adapted to a cold climate, does not readily become wet. 
Snow-fleck. 
Bullfinch. 
