62 
CHAFFINCH. 
The young male resembles the female until after the au¬ 
tumnal moult, when he begins gradully to assume his future 
distinctive colours; until then the tints are paler, and the 
green on the lower part of the back is wanting. 
In some specimens of the Chaffinch the throat and breast 
are of a lighter or deeper red, the quill feathers of the wing 
more or less black, and the white bands on the wings more 
or less tinged with yellow. 
A curious variety of this species is recorded in the ‘Zoolo¬ 
gist, page 1955, by J. H. Gurney and William Richard Fisher, 
Esqrs., as having been killed on the 30th. of August, in the 
year 1847. The following is their account and description of 
it:—The bird is a young male, the ground colour of its 
plumage is white, but pervaded throughout with a delicate 
canary yellow colour. This tint is strongest on the back, 
especially on the lower part, on the edges of the quill feathers 
of the wings and of the tail feathers. The eyes are of the 
natural colour. It was shot at Brooke, in the county of 
Norfolk, by H. K. Thompson, Esq. Mr. G. B. Clarke also 
records another in ‘The Naturalist,’ vol. i, page 142, which 
was nearly white, there being but a few coloured feathers in 
it. It was shot at Froxfield, near Woburn, Bedfordshire. 
The late William Thompson, Esq., of Belfast, gives an account 
of another, in his valuable ‘Natural History of Ireland,’ of 
which he says that it was of the full adult size of the Chaf¬ 
finch in every measurement, and singularly and beautifully 
marked, the prevailing colour of its plumage being pure white, 
but the head tinted with yellow, and the centre of the back 
rich yellow, like that of the Canary; the wing coverts and 
upper tail coverts being also delicately tinged with that colour. 
It had a few of the ordinary blackish grey and brown feathers 
of the Chaffinch, as follows:—one or two on the head, some 
on the back, and some, very few, on the wings and tail, but 
altogether inconspicuous. The primaries and the tail feathers, 
as well as their shafts, were pure white, and the whole plumage 
partook as much of, or more than, I should be inclined to 
say from his description, that of the Canary, as of that of 
the Chaffinch. He also relates that Mr. J. V, Stewart met 
with a white one; and, further, that in May, 1844, a pair 
were found, just after leaving the nest, in the garden of John 
Eegge, Esq., of Glynn Park, near Carrickfergus, which were 
united together after the manner of the ‘Siamese Twins.' 
