THE CHAFFINCH. 
341 
The Summer Red Bird (. Pyranga cestim). This is a favorite cage bird in the Southern 
States. The male is wholly of a rich vermilion color, most brilliant on the lower parts, except 
the inner vanes and tips of the wings. The female is of a sober brown color, or olive-brown. 
It remains in the north until August, when it retires southward, having raised its young, one 
brood. The note is a strong sonorous whistle, resembling a loose trill, or shake on the notes 
of a fife, frequently repeated ; that of the female is rather a kind of chattering. She is, how- 
ever, rarely seen, and is usually mute, and scarcely to be distinguished from the color of the 
foliage at a distance ; while the loquacity and brilliant red of the male make him very con- 
spicuous. This bird is very abundant in the Gulf States. It is a rare summer visitor as far 
north as New England. Its food consists of insects, and berries are eaten in the season. 
The true Finches are known by their rather short and conical beak, their long and pointed 
wings, and the absence of nostrils in the beak. Europe possesses many examples of these 
birds, several of which are celebrated for their beauty of plumage and powers of song. 
Among the most beautiful of these birds, the Gouxdian Finch holds a high place, its 
plumage being decorated with the softest and most harmonious hues, the feathers glowing 
with delicately opalescent shades of lilac, green, and golden yellow. 
This exquisite little bird is a native of New South Wales, and although not very scarce in 
the district which it frequents, is yet decidedly local in its habits. It is seldom seen in the 
open country, preferring to haunt the thicket and edges of forests, where it may be seen hop- 
ping easily among the branches, in little bands of from four to seven or eight in number. The 
voice of this finch is not remarkable for force or beauty, being little more than a querulous 
kind of twitter, which it utters mournfully when disturbed, at the same time flying to the 
summit of the nearest tree, and there sitting until the cause of alarm is removed. 
The color of this bird is as follows : The head and throat are deep velvet-black, the back 
and wings are soft yellowish-green, and a stripe of bright verditer-green runs from behind the 
eye down the sides of the neck, until it is merged in the yellow-green of the back. Across the 
breast runs a broad band of purple, yellow, or lilac, and the whole of the under surface is 
golden-yellow, with a kind of waxen gloss. The bill is scarlet at the tip, and white at the 
base. These tints belong only to the adult bird, the young being soberly clad in gray, buff, 
and olive. 
On the colored illustration of the Finches, one represents the Goldfinch. It is one of 
the most familiar and prettiest songsters of Europe. 
The Chaffinch, another representative of the same species, is one of the commonest field 
birds, being spread over the whole of Europe in very great numbers, and frequenting hedges, 
fields, and gardens with equal impartiality. It is a most gay and lively little bird, and whether 
singly, or assembled in large flocks, it always adds much life to the landscape, and delights 
the eye of every one who is not a farmer or a gardener, both of which personages wage deadly 
war against the bright little bird. For the Chaffinch is apt at times to be a sad thief, and has 
so strong a liking for young and tender vegetables, that it pounces upon the green blades of 
corn, turnips, radishes, and similar plants, as soon as they push their way through the soil, 
and in a few hours destroys the whole of the seedlings. In one instance, a few Chaffinches 
settled upon a piece of ground about one hundred and twenty yards square, that had been 
planted with turnips, and before the day had closed, they had pulled up every young shoot 
and eaten a considerable amount of them. 
As, however, is the case of the rook, the chief food of the Chaffinch consists of insects 
which would be most noxious to the agriculturist, and in all probability the harm which they 
do in eating young plants and buds is more than counterbalanced by the benefit which they 
confer in destroying myriads of dangerous insects. 
