FINCHES. 
389 
buildings, or, where there are no buildings, in rocks which do not hold the snow, 
the former not only affording them a dry nesting-place, but one which also protects 
the nest from the storms of snow and sleet, which have by no means ceased to fall 
by the end of May. A nest obtained on the Furka is principally made of dry 
grass-stalks, intermingled with which are tufts of hair, wool, leaves, shavings of 
wood, and a few feathers. The inside walls are lined with ptarmigan’s feathers, 
both white and brown, these being woven together very compactly with horsehair, 
and in a nest before me also with strands of green worsted. The bottom of the 
nest is not lined with feathers. The outside diameter, which is nearly round, is 
8| inches; the inside diameter 3| inches; thus the inside cup is small in proportion. 
The eggs are pure white, and from three to five in number.” Mr. Wilson adds that 
the snow-finches in winter descend from the Alpine regions to the lower valleys. 
The snow-finch is a beautiful bird, rather larger than the greenfinch or sparrow, 
with long wings, in which the primary quill-feathers are much longer than the rest, 
as in some other birds of airy and graceful flight. The strong contrast of jet-black 
and purest white in the plumage, notably in the tail, which has two black feathers 
in the middle, while the rest are as white as snow, makes the bird conspicuous at a 
long distance, and a more striking object than the browner snow-bunting, which 
occasionally strays from the north to the Alps. There are few more beautiful 
sights than the wheelings and whirlings of a flock of snow-finches, with their white 
feathers glistening in the sun one moment, while the next their black ones will 
show clear against the snow. The adult snow-finch has the upper-parts brown, 
with light edgings to the feathers; the hind-neck and sides of the neck are ashy 
grey; the wings and tail are black and white, some of the feathers being edged 
with brown; while the lower-parts are white throughout. 
This group has been found to contain the palest forms of the 
rose-finches, the only two species known being inhabitants of desert 
countries. The bill is short and much arched, with both mandibles much curved. 
The wings are very long, reaching within a third of an inch of the end of the tail, 
when closed, and the metatarsus is comparatively long. The plumage of both 
sexes is grey or brown, suffused with pink. The common desert-finch ( Erythro- 
spiza githaginea), the western representative of the genus, is found in the Canaries, 
the Sahara, and Egypt, extending eastwards through Afghanistan and Baluchistan 
to the Punjab, while the Mongolian desert-finch ( E. viongolica ) inhabits the deserts 
of Central Asia, extending its range eastwards into Western China. 
The common desert-finch is an inhabitant of the most sterile regions. Its habits 
in the Canaries have been described by Dr. Bolle, who writes that “ it is always 
found in sociable little groups, when the cares of the breeding-season do not keep 
it solitary. The cheerful little bird dances from stone to stone, or glides about 
near the ground; but seldom can our sight follow it far into the landscape, for the 
reddish grey feathers of the old bird mix closely with the colours of the stones 
and leafless stems and twigs of euphorbia, as the buff of the young does with the 
pale yellow of the sand or chalk. We should lose it if its voice, which is one of 
its most striking peculiarities, did not guide us to it. Listen ! A note like that of 
a small trumpet trembles through the air and vibrates continuously; and if we are 
very attentive, we shall hear, just before and just after it, two gentle, light notes, 
Desert-Finches. 
