FEMALE AMERICAN GOLDFINCH. 
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tipped with white, an arrangement which exhibits two 
white bands across the wings ; the first and third pri- 
maries are equal, hardly shorter than the second, which 
is the longest, the fourth being nearly as long as the 
third; the secondaries are margined with white. The 
tail is emarginated, the feathers being black, slightly 
edged with white, and having a large pure white spot 
on the inner web at tip. 
The female, as is usual in this family of birds, is 
rather smaller than the male, and is widely different 
from that sex in the colours of its plumage. The bill 
and feet are brownish; the lower mandible is whitish 
at base; the head has no appearance of black, and, 
with the neck, the back, and rump, is brownish olive, 
the latter part being of a lighter shade than the pre- 
ceding portions; the upper tail-coverts are greenish 
white ; the frontlet, cheeks, sides of the neck, throat, 
and upper part of the breast, are pale greenish yellow ; 
the lower portion of the breast, belly, vent, flanks, 
under wing and under tail-coverts, are whitish. The 
wings and tail, which always afford the most constant 
specific characters, are like those of the male, except 
that the black colour is less intense, and the white is 
less pure, being slightly tinged with rufous. 
In this state of plumage, the bird closely resembles 
the Fringiilct citrinella of the south of Europe, which, 
however, can always be distinguished from it by several 
characters, but more particularly by its greenish yellow 
rump, and by being destitute of the whitish spot at the 
tip of the inner web of the tail feathers. The young 
are so like the females as to be distinguished with 
difficulty; their colours, however, are still less lively; 
they assume the adult livery in the spring, but do not 
exhibit all the brilliancy of the perfect bird until the 
third moult. 
The American goldfinch moults twice a-year, in the 
seasons of spring and autumn. At the spring moult 
the males obtain their vivid colouring, which is lost at 
the autumnal change, and replaced by a more humble 
dress, similar to that of the female, from which sex 
