Perching Birds. 
i9 
THE SCARLET This pretty Finch has only 
BULLFINCH. been captured twice in England, 
( Carpodacus -o • w j 
' f once near Brighton, and once near 
erythrinus.) 
Hampstead. I have seen both 
specimens, and could detect no sign of their having been 
kept in confinement, nor is the species a frequent cage- 
bird in this country. Its home is in Northern Russia 
and in Siberia, but it breeds also in Eastern Prussia, 
and it has occurred during the season of migration in 
Heligoland, in Southern Sweden, and in France, so 
that there is nothing extraordinary in its occasional 
occurrence in Great Britain. Although popularly spo- 
ken of as a 1 Bullfinch,’ the present species is more 
like a stoutly-built Canary in form, but has scarlet as 
the predominating colour instead of yellow. As will 
be seen by the accompanying figures, there is consider- 
able difference in the colour of the sexes, the female 
being a very sober-plumaged individual. The nest is 
built in swampy localities, and is placed in the fork of a willow-bush or some other 
low tree, or amongst climbing-plants. It is a carefully made, but slenderly built cup, 
and is more like that of a Warbler than that of a Finch. The eggs are four or 
five in number, of a beautiful blue, with well-marked spots of black and purplish or 
reddish brown. 
The Crossbill (Loxia curvirostra). The pretty legend connected with the 
blood-stained breast and the crossed bill of this bird has been immortalized by 
Longfellow, but the same story of the attempted rescue of the Saviour from the 
Cross has been told of the Robin and other birds with red breasts, which were 
bidden to ‘ bear in token of this moment, marks of blood and holy rood.’ The 
The Scarlet Bullfinch. 
The Crossbill. 
