GEOr>"D FI>'CHES. 
169 
pre-eminently typical, will serve to convey a tolerable 
idea of the general structure of these birds. The 
other native birds which enter into the aberrant 
group are the Groldfinches and Linnets. 
The powerful bill with which the typical species are 
provided, enables them to break the shells of the 
harder kind of seeds and berries upou which they 
principally subsist. The Hawfinch {Coccotliraustes 
MiiropcBus), for instance, feeds entirely upon the 
produce of various trees, such as the kernels and 
seeds of the beech, elm, ash, and maple ; and in the 
winter on the berries or, rather, the seeds aud stones 
of the juniper, service-tree, and white-thorn; it attacks 
also cherries and plums, the stones of which it breaks 
with the greatest ease, to feed upon the enclosed 
kernels. The species which do not possess the 
powerful bill of the more typical groups, such as the 
Linnets, Groldfinches, etc., feed upon the smaller class 
of seeds of wild plants, as the flax, thistle, dandelion, 
etc., and particularly on those of the cruciform 
plants. 
The sub-family Coccotliraustinm is composed of 
many genera, among which the AVeavers {Ploceus) 
are conspicuous for their numbers as well as their 
beauty. The name AV^eaver was given to them on 
account of the surprising skill that they display in the 
fabrication of their nests. One of these nests mentioned 
by Barrow* as fabricated by a species of Loxia or Gros- 
hawk (probably of the modern genus Euplectes), is in 
the form of a chemist’s retort. It is usually built on 
the extremity of a branch extending over a river or pool 
* XraTels in Africa. 
