F R I N G I L L A. 
54 
but does not build here ; it is frequently found among the 
chaffinches, and fometimes comes in vaft flocks. They 
are alfoTeen, at certain times, in vaft clouds in France, 
infomuch that the ground has been quite covered with 
their dung, and more titan fix hundred dozen were killed 
each night. They are faid to be particularly fond of 
beech-maft, and will eat feeds of various other kinds : 
their flefti is eaten by many, but is bitter. They are faid 
to breed about Luxemburg, tnaking their neft on the 
tailed fir-trees, compofed of long mofs without, and 
lined with wool and feathers within ; the eggs are four or 
five in number, yellovvifli, and fpotted ; and the young 
are fledged at the end of May. This fpecies is found 
more or lefs throughout Europe; is common in the pine 
foreffs of Ruflia and Siberia i but thofe of the laft are 
darker in colour, and lefs in fize. 
There is a variety of the brambling, with a black flreak 
over each eye, tending to the hind head ; acrofs the 
back part of the head another, meeting the firft; on the 
wing-coverts a bar of reddifli white, and a ferruginous 
one below ; throat and breaft tawny ; belly and rump 
white. This was met with off the coait of Japan, and is 
in the collection of fir Jofeph Banks. 
There is alfo another variety of a paler colour than the 
common brambling, and the head wliolly white ; found 
in the Ardenne?. 
6. Fringilla lulenfis, the lulean finch : brown; breaft 
and ftioulders rufous; wings black with a rufous fpot ; 
fize of the gold-finch ; bill brown ; head and neck above 
blackifli-afh : throat white; belly and vent whitifli ; 
wing-coverts with alternate rufous and black bands, the 
laft white { quill feathers black; tail dark cinereous. 
Inhabits Sweden. 
7. Fringilla erythrocephala, the red-headed finch ; 
length near five inches; bill black; head and neck rich 
leaflet ; fpace round the eyes black ; back, breaft, and 
belly olive ; wings black, with two bars of white on the 
coverts; tail black; legs grey. Inhabits the illand of 
Mauritius. 
8. Fringilla pfittacea, the parrot finch : fize of the 
fparrow ; bill black; face, to behind the eye, and the 
throat, deep fcarlet ; rump and tail the fame ; reft of 
the body parrot green, lighteft beneath ; the wings, 
when folded, reach the bafe of the tail ; the outer edge 
of the quills is green, the inner cinereous brown; tlte 
tail cuneiform ; the two middle feathers deep fcarlet, 
with the (hafts brown ; the other five, on each tide, have 
Only the outer web fcarlet, the inner brown. Brought 
by Dr. J. R. Forfter, from New Caledonia. 
9. Fringilla carduelis, the goldfinch : beauty of plum¬ 
age, melody of fong, fagacity, and docility, are united in 
this charming little bird, which, were it rare, and im¬ 
ported from a foreign country, would indeed be highly 
prized. Crimfon red, velvet black, white, and gold 
yellow, are the chief colours wliich gliften on its plum¬ 
age; and the mixture of lighter and deeper tints ftill 
heightens their luftre. Hence its names in different lan¬ 
guages. In Germany, it is called Jlieglitz, dijld-vogd, 
klettcr, truns, rcth-vogd-, in Holland, pitter •, in Bohemia, 
Jieglick-, in Savoy, charderaulat\ in Poland, jezigil ■, in 
&\\e.Aen, Jliglitza •, in Italy, garddlo, garddlino', carddino, 
carzerino ^ in Jirguerito, fide colore, forte pintacilgo. 
The Latin epithet carduelis is derived from carduvs, a 
thiltle, on which it feeds; and the French name cliardon- 
neret is formed from chardon, wliich alfo fignifies a thiftle. 
It is the of Ariftotle and the ancient Greeks. 
When tiie wings of the goldfinch are clofed, each ap¬ 
pears marked with a train of white points, which are ap- 
parent on the dark ground ; thefe are the white fpecks 
which terminate all the quills of the wing, except the 
two or three firft. The quills of the tail are of a ftill 
deeper black; the fix intermediate ones tipt with white, 
and the two laft liave on each fide on their inner webs aa 
oval white fpot, which is coiifpicuous. But thefe white 
points vary in their number and arrangement 5 and in ge« 
neral the plumage of the goldfinch is far from being 
conftant. 
The female has lefs red than the male, and no black at 
all. rile young ones do not affume their fine red rill the 
fecond year : they are at firft (Lined with dirty obfeure 
colours, and for that reafon the bird-catchers call them 
grey-pates\ but the yellow on the wings appears early, 
and al(o the white fpots on the quills of the tail; yet 
thefe fpots are of a duller white. 
The males have a well-known and pleafing fong. 
They begin about the firft of March, and continue dur¬ 
ing the whole of tlie genial feafon ; they chant even in 
the winter, when kept in warm apartments, where they 
enjoy the temperature of fpring. Aldrovandus ranks 
them the fecond of the finging birds; Daines Barrington 
admits them only into the fixth place, in England, the 
goldfinches from Kent are faid by Latham to be the beft: 
fingers; but this feenis very doubtful. 
Thefe birds, like the chaffinches, conftruft the neateft 
and moft compatJ nefts. They coiifift of fine mofs, li¬ 
chens, liver-wort, ruffies, fmall roots, and the dowm of 
thiftles, interwoven with great art, and lined with dry 
grafs, hair, wool, and down; they generally place them 
in trees, and particularly on pears, plums, and walnuts, 
and commonly feleft the weak branches which ftiake the- 
moft'. Sometimes they neftle in copfes, and fometimes 
in thorny bulhes; and it is faid that the young goldfinches 
bred in fuch fituations arc of darker plumage, but more 
fprightly, and fing better than others. Olina makes the 
fame remark in regard to thofe hatched in the month of 
Auguft. The female begins to lay about the middle of 
fpring, at firft five eggs, fpotted with redciifh-brown near 
the large end. If the neft be demoliftied, ftie makes a 
fecond, or even a third, hatch, but the number of eggs 
diminifhes each time. Thefe birds are much attached to 
their young: they feed them with caterpillars and infeffs ;• 
if both be caught together, and fluit up in the fame cage, 
the parents will ftill continue their care. In breeding 
thefe birds, the cock goldfinch ought to have only one 
female. It is fomewhat fingular, that the cock goldfinch, 
when fhut up in a large breeding cage with difl'erent fe¬ 
males, is not fo much difpoftd to pair with his own fe¬ 
male as with the hen canary, or any other female of a 
warm temperament. Sometimes the hen goldfinch breeds 
with the cock canary, but this is unfrequent; and on the 
other hand, the hen canary, if feparated from the males, 
will confort with the cock goldfinch. The female is the 
firft to feel the ardour of paffion, and endeavours, by al¬ 
luring arts, and the influence of ihe genial feafon, to urge 
her languid paramotir to confummate their pairing. T he 
preliminaries laft commonly lix weeks, during which time 
the hen^ canary makes a complete laying of addle eggs, 
for which her incelfant felicitations ha'^e not procured 
fecundation. However, after the union is accompli(hed, 
he proceeds to difeharge the duties of a parent ; he afiifts 
his mate in coiiftriidling the neft, and carries food to hep 
while (he is engaged in hatching, or. in rearing her young. 
Though the(e conftrained amours will fometimes fuc- 
ceed with a hen canary and a wild goldfinch, it is better 
to raife together thofe intended for breeding, and not to 
pair them till they are two ) ears old. Tlie offspring re- 
fembles more the fat'ier in the fhape of the bill, in the 
colours of the head and of the wings, and in (hort in'ali 
the extiemlties, and the mother in the reft of the body: 
they have alfo been lemarked to be ftronger, and live 
longer, and to have a clearer fong ; but to be not fo do¬ 
cile in adopting the notes of artificial mulic. Thefe hy¬ 
brids are ftill capable of propagating, and when tliey are 
paired with the hen canary, the fecond generation has a 
manifeft analogy to the fpecies of tlie goldfinch; fo 
much does the male influence predominate in the aft of 
generation. 
The goldfinch flies low, but with an even continued 
motion, like the linnet; and not by jerks and hounds, 
like the fparrow. It is an aiftive and laborious bird ; if 
nos 
