Seek areal ar t i fe NK | ig Mp 0 ? TE og titre A uv 1 | Coa ) i i Me. ae a arn LAD to ' ws ae ae I " 7% iy : 7 ans a on “er, a ie | he gg 7 | 610 Oe, GIS3X A HISTORY His VV. Di Dirk OF BRITISH BIRDS, WITH COLOURED ILLUSTRATIONS OF THEIR EGGS. / BY HENRY SEEBOHM. tte =a Ae LONDON: PUBLISHED FOR THE AUTHOR k. H. PORTER, 6 TENTERDEN STR AND DULAU & CO., SOHO SQUARE, W. 1884. aes -- gis PRINTED BY TAYLOR AND FRANCIS, RED LION COURT, FLEET STREET. CONTENTS OF VOL IL DOLLOP OPIOIDS LLLP LPIP IU Plate Page INTRODUCTION (On the Protective Colour of Eggs) ........ = ix Subiamily AMPH LIN AG 20s. couelt- lbs vu. Noa aera i! Eine LUIS eaepe te oh kee 2 Ampelis garrulus. Waxwing ...........00000: ali! 3 Sumbeamalive S UO RINEN AG oon 5 oer dhess sya pele neteloins oe 10 Comat SME LUN US stants Serio « ails oid vel share dv Hig ees 10 Stummus vulgaris. Starline ...54..05 660k. caedkecs 11 12 PTET Se Et IO) Beasts aoa ato} “acs aoey Sig Biel Gael Sleds wresd , oraeaie Wi 5 19 Pastor roseus. Rose-coloured Starling............ gale 20 Snibtaniby. RUN GEELEN AGacinniict) .. ial enenuees we 28 Chemis Oe Meat aara sy cites acite ana ohayn pel A shgie adhe wie geeks a 28 Lowxia curvirostra. Common Crossbill F pss } Bee hoe 13. 30 pityopsittacus. Parrot Crossbill bifasciata. European White-winged Crossbill } 19 37 leucoptera. American White-winged Crossbill enucleator. Pine-Grosbeak ................ 12, 41 Gongs CANPODACUBY . sakes ose o's « Supe cies «aw eee s es ute 45 Carpodacus erythrinus. Scarlet Rose-Finch ...... 12, 46 Eremnee WRU En UAL xs eel et, diiajaie evs geveier aisle ais aes 50 Pyrrhula vulgaris. Bullfinch ....:.....0.+..... 12 51 Genuna COCCOTHRAUSIBS oc. 5666 conte eee a we Ae 56 Coccothraustes vulgaris. Hawfinch ..... ........ 13. 57 Gennes, Se cite Ga is as cadet ieee ceabes a 62 Passer domesticus. House-Sparrow ...........005 13. 63 montanus, Tree-Sparrow .......6-.s6sec0e 13. 69 Ay, CONTENTS. Plate Page CF eriTIs ERIN GLA opis oe eee oitinis io Gers aide sVarvion acne Tonee ae 73 Fringilla chloris. Greenfinch .................. 12, 74 a= CONT. “GONE. cieterse son eens a Se 12: 79 serumus. ‘Sevin Binch) (4: -97-6 foee 2 ese ia s 12. 83 === porauens. ‘Goldiinch: "5.22.4 scene oe 12. 87 SPUlUs.), SISK ey cree eee ei e Bee eee ene 12. 92 montifringilla. Brambling ................ 13. 96 celebs.. Chattineh ..... ..25.04 nes -o mate eee 13. 100 cannabing. TLammet 2250.0. .eenen eas 6 ates 13. 106 flamimostris) (MEWALC. UI... eh betas seit Nee aie 13. 111 rufescens. Lesser Redpole .... linaria. Mealy Redpole eWevietctog te 12. 115 hornemanni. Greenland Redpole Gone Me NEBECIZA® Ou Proce ca) aes ater tise ie eee ae ete nt 123 Emberiza nivalis. Snow-Bunting................ 15. 125 lapponica. Lapland Bunting .............. 15. 131 scheniclus. Reed-Bunting ...........-..+- 15. 135 rustica, Rustic Bumtime : . 27. eee ce see 15. 140 pusilla: StattlesBumtane) yeni crt oe ee ee 15. 144 novara. “Com-=Bunting 226.0055 oss er 13. 148 hortulana. Ortolan Bunting ............. 15. 153 cirlus: Cir] Bunter nee cies oe creo ee 13. 156 ctrmella. Yellow Hammer. .23.0.2..-....- 13. 160 melanocephala. Black-headed Bunting ...... 15. 165 Subfamily HIRUNDININAE .... 1. cece eee eee ees oe 169 Genus TR UINDO Aer onc os S scieetenn eters Avmeammcaremn oer ae 169 Hirundo rustica, | Swallow? 72)... us chee eee 17, 17. wroica. HMouse-Martwl. ine ce eae kre 178 riparia. Sand-Mantin | 200. eines eee ate ike 184 GenupPROGNE ie: .cdsicseics eyes mage ee ees cate oe He 188 Progne purpurea. Purple Martin................ 18. 189 Subfamily MOTACILLINAL ......-: sie eeceeeaees ie 192 Genus: MODPACELGA. «5: sonata ature em eee) ee eee ae 192 Motacilla yarrellii. Pied Wagtail.............. ~~ CO, 194 ailoa., White. Waste a: <a <= atte s stain a etal a 14. 199 sulphurea. Grey Wagtail ................ 14. 203 flava. Blue-headed Wagtail .............. 14. 208 FON. Mellow Weta mctaceeis ee sucess ses se 14. 212 CONTENTS. Vv Plate Page Gertis ANTEBUS: coe cs x eens a S00 neo oipibetslians sin ah bs 217 Anthus arboreus. Tree-Pipit......... seer renee 14. 219 pratensis. Meadow-Pipit.........-++++++:- 14. 224 cervinus. Red-throated Pipit ..........+--- 14. 229 richardi. Richard’s Pipit...........++++++: 14. 233 — campestris, Tawny Pipit.........+++s+e:- 14. 239 obscurus. Rock-Pipit .....-.-.+eee ee eeee: 14. 244 spinoletta. Alpine Pipit .......-++-+s++ee: 14. 248 Subfamily ALAUDINE ....--+- 11s errr eee eens fi 253 Gorn NGAUS 2 bcc sen wines ss oe ee yer es tate os ae 253 Alauda arborea. Wood-Lark ...........0ee eee 15. 256 cristata. Crested Lark.........--+.s seers 15. 261 arvensis. Sky-Lark ......... 0 .+ se eset cess 15. 266 brachydactyla. Short-toed Lark............ 15. 274 sibirica. White-winged Lark ...........+.: 15, = ° 278 alpestris. Shore-Lark ........-. ok ca otisras 15. 284 Family CYPSELIDA ............ hye a NN a Sages Grontin ONE Sila Sipe cite e sacete es ae ecshehesrern alals ea alee i 290 Oypselus apus. Common Swift........-..++++-: 18. 292 mclaa Alpige Swifts G1... c++ se we ene te 18. 297 Groniiia) © CAE WA me crsa ore won: etevsnia tere ersh ote ose2 hob astnt foe a 302 Chetura caudacuta. Needle-tailed Swift ........ Wes 308 Family CAPRIMULGID.................... . 307 Genus GAPBIMULGUS, . 25.5 cccee cena ss eae tee as 308 Caprimulgus ewropeus. Common Nightjar........ ive 309 ——- egyptius. Isabelline Nightjar ............ Ee 315 eamily MEROPEDAS ..<.c/0s.s.8b..\ it. Prrc rons eM ROPRS <= 56 ce ce bee ces con simeee be wea a 319 Merops wpiaster. Common Bee-eater .........--: ES: 321 Genus CORAGEAS: 2 inca ere foie s cee tesa oe dimes Bf 326 Coracias garrula, Common Roller ,............- 18. 327 vi CONTENTS. Plate Page Peamitly POP UD AG tie sac ee A 332 Gonus BUPA ass caret hose Oran eaoete Meike locke ae os 332 Upupacepops: TOOpGG®, cep srusiaene teat iens is ate ek 15. 334 amily “ALCEDINIDA. «00 rn 339 Genus ALCHDO! A. Mes vs ce.cio Meo Get Pre Rae ie 339 Alcedo ispida, Common Kingfisher.............. 18. 341 Gengis (CHR WOE) 2 le te ee Ay 347 Ceryle aleyon. Belted Kingfisher................ 18. 348 amily PLC UD AN... cc... eee ee, ee : 352 Genus FRICUS 9 on is cate ke aeons aOR ae aK 352 Picus major. Great Spotted Woodpecker ........ 18. 354 minor. Lesser Spotted Woodpecker ........ hs 359 Gronis (GMC INIUS sare. sicereaee tse oe oer eee eee eee oa 363 Gecinus viridis. Green Woodpecker ............ 18. 364 Gents TVINING foot. onc tots Fete a etalon tone Wt ee ar anee tee ee eee oe 371 Tyne: torquilla. Wryneck...........0.0.. 000008 18. 372 Family CUCULIDE |... cece. We Genus CUCUHUS Wwaociasce tan eda cu here Rees a 376 Cuculus canorus., ‘Cuckoo... \.00.2 7 eee eee 20. 378 - glandarius. Great Spotted Cuckoo.......... 68. 386 Genus COCCYAUS. |... 3.0. saeco een ee ee eee he 389 Coccyzus americanus. Yellow-billed Cuckoo ...... 68. 390 Family COLUMBIDZ........ eee ee: gh Genns-COLUMBA.. ws .00 eee ee eee 4 395 Columba palumbus. Ring-Dove ................ Ihe 396 @nas.. stock=Dove... heen eee ee eee : Ly. 401 luna; “Rock-Dove acece eee ye 405 Geng ZNO: 3. Sr ee eee ee ee. sp 410 Turtur auritus. Turtle-Dove ...............5.. ive All CONTENTS. vii Plate Page Family PHASIANIDE .................... 416 Gems, Sere eet Ate eB. Wer hh ees ob ah aiecenekele hola oh ba 85 417 Syrrhaptes paradowus. Pallas’s Sand-Grouse...... 20. 419 OIE Dro U ARO. cpa sir ndcs Pana 6 bet Mahe week ees oc. <- 423 Tetrao mutus. Common Ptarmigan.............. 20. 424 SOLUS = HOOlGLOUSE an cea a ctsee< Sere ee 20. 428 Lelpimen Dacha Grouse! t0. ha, 4 Se Halacha eae 20. 435 urogallus. Capercaillie .................. 21. 440 Crema eeu AS AUN Snes. crc goa c ona 2 eerscoe ln acenvaGeane’ ce 444 Phasianus colchicus. -Pheasant......¢... 000.000: PAL 445 Sevres! 12] Od Pd OD. ee, i eee i Be ee Ak Sys 451 Perdix cinerea. Common Partridge.............. 21. 452 . rufa. Red-legged Partridge .............. 20. $457 ern se OO) 1 EUINITE NG ee ee re indice She ain < 461 OCoturnix communis. Common Quail ............ 20. 462 Family PEUARGIDAG ...000000.. 022202. ie 466 Rens RAS a 5 ohare « ace a cls ea wariirold oe can Les 467 Ardea cinerea. Common Heron ................ 38. 468 purpureg., Lurple;Heron. <1... 12a aes 38. 473 aléa. Great White Beret ............00e, 38. 477 garacea.. “TittiGnBerege tated cna oe 38. 481 comata.. Squacco Heron .............0...- 38. 486 bubulcus. Buff-backed Heron.............. 38. 492 Germs NP Keele MO OMGACNS ho ac bs! wel o stu a's Sow wee eee a 495 Nycticorax nycticorax. Night-Heron ............ 38. 496 ever tpe nO) ee i Wed aca cet <ist u's re owas = genie ins eae i 502 Batpurus stellanis:. Bittern... < «osu. oS ve Sea 39. 503 lentigunosus. American Bittern ............ 39. 506 minutus. Little Bittern. .........8c. cas. u. 38. 510 Gensie IMAUIVAUIBVAG, ccaptteh fcer cis) sacl scan, 1 SR een ee “fe 513 Platiteasteucoradia. Spoonbill... ... Jas.se6s. 37. 514 (Gents UE ere te ioe, suc si ofl bea Sale erate mae a. 519 Ibes falewmellus, Glossy Tbis...... 05.00.00. eee 38. 520 vill CONTENTS. Plate Gonus CICONLA <<... 5.086506 conus Meds Ce Eee r Giconiaaiva. White Stork). one nee or 37. nigra. Black Stork’...........+---+.0008- 37. Mamily RADUIDA ...,....0.. jeer eee Genus “CREX 5.00se6 ba oo are sud Gale a eee ee Orex pratensis. Corm-Crake. ... iy.) sie aeisteee 23. porzana. Spotted Crake ...........20-+en0> 23. battlon?. Baillon’s Crakeii ans mee . eels 23: parva. little Crake 2.2. tos er ee 23. Gens (RA LEUS i. SO eee eee ee Ce ence a Ratlus aquaticus. Water-Rail............).....- 23 Genus: GALLINUDA. «5 2s sel ee ee ee Gallinula chloropus. Waterhen ........-....... 23. Genus Se UGG A ee een eon Oe ee Rae eee Fulica atra. Coramon-Coot:..:0..5. 0.050. ae eee 23! Family GRUIDE 0.0.0... ccccceceeceeeee Genus GRU Seti sittin aoe see chs a ee ea Grus cinerea. Common Crane.................. 36. virgos, Demoiselle/Crane. ....)..... 2.6m 36. Family OTIDIDA..0..00..00.ccccccceccecceeee GemisvO TL SF «cows eed aad eee ee ee Oistarde.., ‘Great Bustard) seh). Gee nee Pape (Gina Little Busvards Haeneeittee eae By, —— macqueent. Macqueen’s Bustard .......... ill Genus CE DICNE MUS: < fe. 6 oe ee eee oe eee Page 524 525 529 533 533 5390 540 543 547 551 552 556 557 563 564 568 568 570 575 579 580 581 587 591 595 596 INTRODUCTION. ON THE PROTECTIVE COLOUR OF EGGS. [THis chapter has been written for me by Mr. Cuaruxs. Drxon, and is sufficiently elaborated to post my readers up in the questions which have arisen on this subject since it has been regarded from the evolutionist point of view. It is, of course, partly based upon Darwin (‘ Descent of Man,’ ii. p. 166) and Wallace (‘ Natural Selection,’ pp. 211,231), who have endeavoured to explain, by the laws of Natural Selection, the facts (long ago remarked by Gloger* and others) respecting the colour of eggs. The results of the investigation are not quite so satisfactory as might have been expected. There are so many cases which cannot be explained by protective selection, that the student, not being able in this instance to fall back upon sexual selection, is obliged to assume that many effects are the results of extinct causes. To my mind they are suggestive rather of other powerful factors in addition to protective and sexual selection.— ES: ] Ootoey has until lately been a much neglected science. Looked upon as an occupation which has for its object the mere collecting, labelling, and arranging in a cabinet the eggs of birds, or threading them on strings like beads, or, worse still, sticking them on cards in all kinds of fantastic patterns, egg-collecting has long been regarded as a schoolboy’s hobby, and quite beneath the dignity of the man of science. But since the great discoveries of those illustrious naturalists Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace have placed the study of natural history on a different basis, and completely revolutionized scientific research, oology may be said to have slowly risen from a schoolboy’s pastime or a collector’s craze to a science so fascinating and so instructive as to claim the careful attention of many of our ablest naturalists. Such hitherto despised objects as birds’ eggs have a tale to tell quite as interesting as that of any other object in the organic world; they have a history to reveal which assists in pointing out the line of march which organic life has taken from its earliest dawn to its present endiess and varied ramifications. But a study of eggs cannot be made satisfactorily without including the birds; the two subjects are inseparably linked together, and it is necessary to have the bird and its life-history before us when studying the egg with its * In the ‘ Edinburgh Journal of Natural and Geographical Science’ (i. p. 303), published in 1880, a short résumé of Gloger’s paper of the previous year is given, translated from the ‘Verhandlungen der Gesellschaft naturforschender Freunde in Berlin.’ VOL. II. ; b x INTRODUCTION. varied markings, and the nest which contains it with its infinite diversity of structure and position. Until very recently the great variety of colour in the plumage of birds was looked upon as so much ornament of no particular use to the species, but for the sole purpose of gratifying the eye and adding to the general harmony of animated nature. Within the last thirty years scientific research has shown that many of the beautiful colours on the plumage of birds materially affect not only their welfare, but, as will shortly be seen, that of their young, and consequently the very existence of their species. This beauty is not given aimlessly, it has a fixed and definite object—the benefit of the species acquiring and possessing it. The student of birds must therefore view each varied tint on their plumage not as so much mere ornament, but as a factor which is or has been essential to the safety or well-being of the species possessing it, which has had its origin in the struggle for existence to which each bird is subject, either through natural or sexual selection. In like manner the infinite variation of colour, and to some extent of form, in the eggs of birds and the endless diversity of their nests have had their origin in the subtle laws of variation and inheritance, aided by natural selection and the survival of the fittest. No writer has investigated this interesting subject so closely as Mr. Wallace ; and the views he has taken, together with the conclusions at which he has arrived, are probably well known to most of our readers. Mr. Wallace’s theory of birds’ nests is said to be far too sweeping and arbitrary ; and certainly it does not explain all the facts. He divides birds into two great classes—one in which the sexes are alike and of conspicuous or showy colours, and which nidificate in a covered site; and the other in which there is a marked difference between the colour of the sexes, the male being showy and the female sombre, and which nidificate in an open site. Nearly all known birds are supposed to come into one or the other of these two groups. In each of these great divisions, however, there are almost as many exceptions as there are cases that conform to the rule; and this has been taken advantage of by Mr. J. A. Allen, the well-known American ornithologist, who endeavours, by a critical study of the nidifi- cation of North-American birds, to overthrow the whole theory (Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, 1878, p. 23). In treating the subject so far as birds and their nests are concerned, I propose to divide birds into the same two great groups as Mr. Wallace ; but I shall subdivide them into several mimor groups, which will include all the “exceptions” to either great rule. I purpose specially to take examples of each, as far as possible, from birds inhabiting our own islands, as being most interesting to the student of British oology. In the birds belonging to the class which build open nests we will notice as the first group Birds in which the plumage of the male is bright and conspicuous INTRODUCTION. xi in colour, and that of the female dull and sombre, and which nidifi- cate in open sites.—The merest tyro in ornithology is aware that the plumage of the female bird is in a great many cases far more sombre than that of the male. Until comparatively recently the cause of this pheno- menon was never dreamed of. It is an ascertained fact that the colour of many female birds is connected in no small degree with their mode of nidification, and that the sitting bird is protected by the harmony which exists between its own sober plumage and the colour of the surroundings of its nesting-site. Let us glance over the nesting-habits of some of our best-known birds, and learn the working of this law. The males of many of our common birds possess extreme brilliancy of plumage, whilst their females are of such dull and inconspicuous colours that an inexperienced person would suppose them to belong to different species. The gorgeous Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus), for instance, has a mate whose garb is dingy and subdued in the extreme. Her sober plumage, however, is of the greatest importance ; for on this cirenmstance in part depends the very existence of her species. She builds her slight nest on the ground, and her plumage harmonizes with the dead bracken and dry herbage around, and most effectually conceals her from her enemies. A still more striking instance is to be found in the Black Grouse (Tetrao tetrix). The male bird is dressed in a rich garb of purplish black, but his mate does not resemble him in the least degree ; indeed, so widely does she differ in the colour of her plumage as to defy even the most expert ornithologist unacquainted with the matter, so far as outward appearances go, to class her as the same species as her mate, her plumage being mottled brown of various shades. But this diversity of plumage between the sexes serves the great purpose of shielding the female during the season of nidification on the brown heathery wastes where she rears her young. Take another instance. The Mallard, or Wild Duck (Anas boschas), exhibits such brilliant tints as to render him one of the showiest of our native birds; but his mate is of dull and inconspicuous colours, which harmonize closely with the tints of her nesting-site, which is an open and exposed one. Again, the male Teal (Anas crecca) is richly adorned, but his mate is so dull in plumage as to suggest the idea of their being distinct species. By this great differ- ence in the sexes the same end is served; for the female Teal builds an open nest, and the safety of that nest and its eggs depends on her dull and sober plumage. Amongst our smaller birds we have many instances : the Blackbird (Merula merula) mated to a dull brown spouse, who sits in an open nest, and the Ring-Ouzel (M. torquata) may be cited. The male of the latter species is showy, rich black and grey, with a snow-white band across the breast; the female is brown, and the band across the breast is dull—a plumage in harmony with the brown tints of the moorland, where she sits upon her open nest comparatively safe. The male Chaffinch 62 xil INTRODUCTION. (Fringilla celebs) and the Bullfinch (Pyrrhula vulgaris) are showy birds ; their mates are more sombre in appearance, and they build open nests, where conspicuous or showy plumes would only lead to their destruction. The charming Stonechat (Pratincola rubicola), in his garb of chestnut, black, and white, is mated to a dull unassuming spouse, who derives her chief safety during the trying period of nidification from the dull and sombre hues with which she is arrayed. Our second group consists of Birds in which the plumage of both sexes is showy or brilliant in colour, and which nidificate in open nests.—This group forms one of those exceptions which, at first sight, appears seriously to affect the validity of the whole theory; but I think it can be shown that the birds included in it may possibly secure their safety in other ways. It is unfair to suppose that every species is equally liable to the attacks of enemies. Some gaily attired female birds may have no special enemies against which to guard— their brilliant or showy dress is no disadvantage to them, as is the case with many conspicuous insects; and this fact may in itself explain why it is that they have assumed such tints. Again, as some female birds became more brilliant through natural selection, it is very possible that they gradually altered the form of their nests (from an open one to a covered one), or if the acquisition of a showy dress did not render them more liable to the attacks of any special enemy (and we know that many animals are singularly free from persecution), no change in the manner of nesting would be required ; and this would explain many of the apparent exceptions to the gencral rule that gaily dressed female birds sit in covered nests. We must also take into consideration what colours are showy in certain haunts. Bright colours that would be very conspicuous in some places may be specially protective in others. Take the case of the Tiger’s stripes, conspicuous enough in the open or the green forest, but blending beauti- fully with the jungle; the light sand-coloured plumage of many desert- birds would be conspicuous enough in fertile districts, but on the burning sands it is invisible ; many other brightly plumaged birds are safe enough in the localities where they build their nests or deposit their eggs; but these facts are too often overlooked for want of careful investigation. Again, aud most important of all, the colour of the eggs in many cases plays a prominent part ; for the moment danger threatens, the ever-watchful and conspicuously coloured female quits her charge and seeks her own safety in flight, leaving her eggs or young to the safety which their tints insure. In this group may be instanced the Orioles, represented in this country by the Golden Oriole (Oriolus galbula). All these birds build open nests, the sexes are almost alike in colour and of brilliant tints; but they conceal their nests amongst the thickest foliage, and, as Mr. Wallace states, protect their offspring by incessant anxious watching. To this group also belong the Jays, the Crows, the Birds of Prey, the INTRODUCTION. Xlll Gulls, the Herons, and many other large birds, all of which are more or less conspicuous and make open nests. In most of these cases, however, the birds are well able to defend themselves and their nests from enemies ; but the more helpless species (as, for instance, the Sandpipers) seek safety for themselves in flight, relying wpon the protective tints of their eggs or young. I shall, however, return more specially to this group of birds when I treat on that part of the subject which concerns eggs and young birds. We now notice a small group of Birds in which the male is less brilliant than the female, and which nidificate in open nests.—The birds in this group are exceedingly few in number, but are nevertheless very interesting. Let us take, for instance, the Dotterel (Eudromias morinellus) ; although the differences between the sexes of this species are not very striking, they exist, and the female » ‘is more showy than her mate: or, better still, take as examples several of the Phalaropes (Phalaropus), where the females are more brilliant in their nuptial dress than the males, the Common Cassowary (Casuarius bennettii) or the Emu (Dromeus irroratus), a Carrion-Hawk (Milvago leucurus) from the Falkland Islands, an Australian Creeper (Climacteris erythrops), and an Australian Goatsucker (Ewrostopodus albogularis), in all of which the females are of more decidedly conspicuous colours than the males, and the nests are open and exposed. Curiously enough we find in all these cases that the male bird performs the duties of incu- bation, and in several instances is known to show much more solicitude than the female for the young! We have, however, an exception to this in the African Ostrich, where the male is more showy than the female ; nevertheless he performs the duties of incubation (Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1863, p. 233). The Ostrich has few enemies; and this fact, together with that of its peculiar manner of nidification, is probably the reason that its plumes have had no check to their present development. It is also worthy of remark that the young of probably all these birds, instead of resembling the females, as is the case with most species, more closely resemble the males, a circumstance which seems to prove abso- lutely that sexual selection has been exclusively confined to the female in these cases. Having now treated of those birds which rear their young in open nests we pass on to the second great group, in which the nests are concealed, first on our list being Birds in which both sexes are brightly coloured and which rear their young in holes or covered nests.—QOne of the most striking instances in our, for the most part, dull-plumaged northern birds is that of the Kingfisher (Alcedo ispida). The male and female are exactly alike in colour, and both are adorned with the same refulgent dress. But how does Nature shield the sitting bird during the nesting-period ? Why has XIV INTRODUCTION. she allowed such brilliant tints to be developed in the female? By sending the Kingfisher to a hole in a bank to lay her eggs and rear her young in darkness, Nature provides most admirably a means of safety for this bird, one of the brightest of her gems. The gaily dressed Woodpeckers ( Picide) have the sexes nearly alike, and the females nest shielded from view in holes of trees. The Tits (Parine) are another mstance. Both sexes in this group of birds are alike, and generally gaily attired; they lay their eggs and rear their young in holes of trees, stumps, and walls, where the beautiful but conspicuous plumage of the female does not affect the safety of her brood. In the delicate and somewhat showy Goldcrests (Regulus) the sexes are but slightly different in colour, and the female hides her showy crest in a well-concealed nest. The homely Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) is another instance where the sexes are similarly adorned with bright and showy tints, and, as is well known, it nests in holes well concealed from view. The showy Swallows and Martins also have the sexes alike, and build covered nests in which the brightly adorned females are protected. The gaudy Rollers and brilliant Bee-eaters (Meropide) have both sexes similarly bright and conspicuous, and they nest in holes. The showy Hoopoe (Upupa) and charming Wall-Creeper (Tichodroma) and Nuthatch (Sitta) have the sexes almost alike in colour, and rear their young in holes. The Common Sheldrake is another instance, from a widely different group of birds *. It has been urged by Mr. Allen (in his article already mentioned) that many domed nests, in which the showy parent bird is concealed from view whilst incubating, are in reality not so safe as many open, but better con- cealed, nests. But this I think cannot be regarded as an objection. Among North-American birds that build purse-shaped or pensile nests may be cited the American Orioles (Icteridz), which construct a nest, Mr. Allen says, “most illy adapted for protection from the most dangerous foes of the species, the predatory Crows, Jays, and Cuckoos, being often a conspicuous object, with, so far as the United States species are concerned, no com- pensating feature of security.” But I venture to assert that these pendent purse-shaped structures, which are built by so many birds in the tropics, are very secure from such enemies, and even more so from snakes, weasels, monkeys, wild cats, and other animals. ‘They are often hung at the ex- tremity of long slender branches, in many cases over water, or the nest itself is suspended by a long neatly-woven cord, or, in some cases, a narrow * It is worthy of remark that the brilliantly dressed males of so many of the Ducks assume a dull inconspicuous garb during the period when the young are being reared. These birds have probably acquired this peculiarity through the fact of their young being yeared in the open. Showily dressed polygamous males desert the female during this anxious period; others, which are not polygamous, in the majority of cases, rear their young in covered nests. /INTRODUCTION. XV tube. In Australia there is a very conspicuous black-and-white Pigeon (Carpophaga luctuosa) which always, it is said, prefers to build its slight nest on a branch over water. How is it possible for even winged enemies to take such a citadel by storm, or harm the parent safely swinging in her wonderful cradle? ‘This is undoubtedly the true reason that these nests are hung so conspicuously ; the eggs, the young, and the brooding (often brightly coloured) parent are all equally safe in such a structure, where concealment could serve no special end in shielding them from their natural enemies. It seems also a most interesting fact that these domed pensile nests are not always so conspicuous as might be imagined. As an example, I will take the by no means brilliantly arrayed little Sericornis citreogularis of Australia, whose nest is built in the dense and humid forests, where the trees are covered with moss, often accumulated in large masses at the extremities of the drooping branches. In these masses of moss, or suspended to them, the little bird places its nest with so much skill that it is impossible to say which are really nests, and which are mere festoons of moss, until each is minutely examined. Our next group consists of Birds in which both sexes are dull in colour, and which build covered nests from motives of safety other than concealment.—|[ do not think that the fact of dull-coloured females sitting in covered nests can be taken as a serious objection to the law of bright-coloured females sitting in covered nests; for, as Darwin remarks (‘ Descent of Man, ii. p. 168), other advantages may be gained irrespective of concealment, such as shelter, greater warmth, or in hot countries protection from the sun, or sudden changes of temperature, or, in the case of many domed pensile nests built on slender branches, protection from certain enemies, as is the case with the Indian Ploceus baya, which makes the entrance to its bottle- shaped pendulous nest inverted, so as to baffle the approaches of tree- snakes and other enemies. Another explanation may be that these plain- coloured birds of both sexes are the descendants of some showy ancestor that built in a covered nest ; and this peculiarity has been transmitted to an entire genus, and retained, even in cases where the plumage of the bird has assumed a more sombre tint, through the laws of Inheritance. It is easy to believe that if no direct and special cause for a change arises, the nesting-economy will remain unchanged even if the plumage of the bird or of any of its descendants changes to less showy tints. The Swift (Cypselus apus) and the Sand-Martin (Hirundo riparia) are both dull-coloured birds, the sexes are alike, and they build nests concealed in holes. But in these cases the colour of the plumage does not influence the conditions of nidification. The Swift makes its rude nest in a hole, it has, so far as we can determine, no means of protecting itself or its eggs from enemies, and consequently retires to such a site where it can rear its XV1 INTRODUCTION. young in comparative safety. Soin like manner the sombre Sand-Martin, for a similar reason, seeks the sand-banks. Sparrows (Passer domesticus) do not nest in holes because the plumage of the female demands concealment during the nesting-season, but from other motives, perhaps the result of a deeply rooted habit acquired during different conditions of life or inherited from a common ancestor of far more brilliant tints requiring concealment during the nesting-season. Again, we have the case of the Wren (Tro- glodytes parvulus), which builds a domed nest, and is yet one of the most soberly arrayed of our native birds. But this is undoubtedly from other motives of safety than concealment ; for from the peculiar structure of her nest few enemies indeed are able to storm her little citadel. Weak and defenceless as this little creature is, she attains by subtlety what she would fail to procure by prowess. The Dipper (Cinclus aquaticus) builds a domed nest, possibly for the purpose of shielding her eggs and young from the spray which so often surrounds them in her rock-bound watery haunts, as is also the case with a little dull-coloured Australian bird (Origma rubricata) which also frequents rocky streams and gullies. The Willow-Warblers (Phylloscopus) build domed or partially domed nests, perhaps because a remote ancestor built a domed nest, but more probably to shield their tender offspring from the moisture which surrounds their usual nesting-places amongst herbage or tall vegetation. The Willow- Warblers are an Arctic group of birds breeding in a climate subject to sudden changes of temperature; and this, I think, may explain their domed nests. As another instance we have the Owls (Strigidz), which, as a rule, rear their young in holes in buildings, rocks, or trees, from no motive of safety, but simply because they dislike the light of day, and naturally breed in situations which are their daily haunts. Our next group consists of Birds in which the female is duller in colour than the male, and which nidificate in covered nests.—This group is one of the most in- teresting, and furnishes convincing proofs of the truth of the theory of sexual selection. We will take as our first example the gay little Redstart (Ruticilla phenicurus). The female of this bird is dull indeed in com- parison with the male, yet the young are reared in all cases in a concealed nest in a wall, tree, or the crevice of a rock; but I can assert from personal observation that the bright-plumaged male assists im no small degree in the duties of incubation. The Pied Flycatcher (Muscicapa atri- capilla) is a similar instance. Others may be found in the Rock-Thrushes (Monticola), the Chats (Saxicola), and the Robin Chats (Thamnobia), in most of the species of which genera the female is far less brilliant than the male; nevertheless she sits in a covered nest, although we cannot. see any valid reason why she should require concealment during the period of incubation; in all cases her colours are dull and well adapted for INTRODUCTION. xvil / safety in an open nest. One of the most striking instances is to be found in the birds forming the genus Malurus. The males are often of the most gorgeous tints, which are assumed exclusively in the nuptial season ; and in many cases, at least, it is known that they do not assist in incubation. There are several possible explanations of these interesting facts. The domed nests may be for the purpose of shielding the sitting bird and its charge from cold, or rain, or from some special enemies. It must also be borne in mind that throughout this group the eggs are conspicuous, and this may to some extent influence the mode of nidification. If we grant that these domed nests are built for other purposes than the concealment of the sitting female, it is easy to explain the great difference of colour between the sexes. The more brilliant colours of the males have been obtained by sexual selection ; for in genera nearly allied to Malurus, such as Séipiturus, Dasyornis, Spheneacus, the sexes are alike and dull in colour, but the nests are always domed and the eggs more or less con- spicuous—a convincing proof, I think, that the nests are not so built to conceal any showy colours in the parent birds. As previously stated, in many cases the showy male bird of many of the species belonging to this group assists in incubation, the domed nest allowing him to do so with safety. It is necessary now briefly to notice those Birds which do not hatch their own eggs.—The birds that come into this division may be divided into two groups: of one our Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) is a good example, and the other contains the Megapodes (Megapodidz) or Mound-birds of the Australian Region. The former group will be more fully discussed in the article on the Cuckoo ; and of the latter so little is known that to Gould’s and Hume’s interesting descriptions little more can be added. It is a wonderful instinct for a bird to bury its eggs in the sand or amongst decaying vegetable matter, and leave them to be hatched by the heat of the sun or the warmth generated by putrefaction. The young, when hatched, are said to break out of their prison and to be able to take care of themselves almost directly afterwards. May not this singular habit, which so closely resembles the mode of propagation of the Turtles and Snakes, be an unchanged inheritance from some semi-reptilian ancestor?* Let us now glance briefly at Birds’ Nests.—These structures have long been regarded as one of the most convincing proofs of an instinctive power, a power which is popularly supposed to be almost supernatural, of spontaneous origin, and nearly infallible. Such a belief, as Mr. Wallace very justly remarks, one would naturally expect to find supported by incontestable facts ; but little or nothing can be brought forward in its favour, and the evidence in support * Lizards’ eggs have been taken from these mounds by Davison (‘ Stray Feathers,’ ii. p- 278). Xvili INTRODUCTION. of blind Instinct* being solely employed in the fabrication of birds’ nests is not supported by one particle of proof. I do not for one moment deny the existence of true instinct in some cases; but so far as birds’ nests are concerned, no powers are revealed in their fabrication beyond those which we ourselves possess in a higher or lower degree. A young Duck taking to the water or a nestling Plover crouching to the earth and remaining motionless are good examples of true instinct, or action performed without instruction, experience, or previously acquired knowledge. In the same manner a bird’s impulse to build a nest is instinctive; but the means it adopts to carry out such an impulse are controlled by similar mental faculties to those possessed by man. Mr. Wallace’s theory that birds do not make their nests instinctively, but by imitating the nests in which they were reared—that if they never saw or were not brought up in a nest peculiar to their species they would be unable to construct one for them- selves similar in position, form, and materials—is probably the true solution of this interesting problem. The question arises, How do birds build their nest, and especially their first nest? is it by blind Instinct or by other mental faculties? To credit the bird with such instinct, which because it seems so self-evident is taken to be matter of fact, is to admit that it possesses intellectual powers infinitely superior to those of man; whilst the evidence that can be gathered on the subject all goes to show that its intellectual powers are of precisely the same kind as man’s, but some of them, of course, are infinitely inferior in degree, whilst others are unquestionably superior. Reason in birds can only be regarded as rudimentary, though there is undoubted evidence of its existence. The faculties a bird brings into play in nest-building are probably these: the one that plays the greatest part is imitation, and the next important faculty of the mind is memory, both of which are distinct from what is popularly cailed reason, which together with hereditary habit play the minor parts. All these powers are found in man, but, with the exception of reason, in a much less pronounced degree, especially in civilized man, in whom it has to a large extent replaced the lower faculties ; for the [(* Iam not able to understand what Mr. Dixon means by Instinct, and therefore do not agree with his remarks on this faculty in various parts of the chapter. I regard the word Instinct as the popular term for the mysterious impulses which scientific men call Hereditary Habit; and I think that it plays a great part, an overwhelmingly great part, not only in Bird-nest building, but in every other action of every animal, man included. Whether the explanation of Hereditary Habit be that it is transmitted unconscious memory (see Butler’s ‘Life and Habit,’ p. 198) is another question, All one can say is, that this isa plausible hypothesis which, in the entire absence of any other, may provisionally be accepted. If Hereditary Habit have the lion’s share in the production of a bird’s nest, we must also allow that Memory, Imitation, and a rudimentary form of Reason also play their subordinate parts.—H. 8.] INTRODUCTION. xix more reason is developed the less are the other powers employed ; conse- quently, so far as man is concerned, they have lost much of their force through disuse. To credit birds with such a marvellous power as blind and infallible instinct in building their nests would be to place them far beyond man himself in intelligence, and allot to them a faculty which is super- human. The evidence that we are able to collect all tends to disprove such a mysterious power. Birds brought up in confinement do not make a nest typical of their species, and in most cases content themselves with forming the merest rudiments of a nest, merely heaping a lot of material together on which they lay their eggs ; and in some cases they do not make even this slight provision. This may be Instinct (or, more properly speaking, Hereditary Habit)—the blind impulse to make a nest ; but with- out tuition, or some standard to work by, it is a failure. The same remarks apply to man ; for with all his boasted reason he is equally as incapable of building a habitation peculiar to his race, if he has not seen one or been initiated in the secrets of its construction. Savage man neither alters nor improves any more than the birds; and each of his great races has a peculiar style of architecture. The Arab and the American Indian dwell in tents, the negro builds a hut, and the bushman lives in caves, whilst the Malay erects his house on posts. Transfer an infant of any one of these races of men, say to civilized Europe, and is it conceivable that when grown up to manhood he would set to work to build a tent, a hut, or a house on posts, according to the particular race to which he belongs, instinctively, and with no instruction? If man is so helpless in such a case, why should not the bird be the same ? Why should a creature infinitely below man in so many of its intellectual attributes be so far in advance of him in this particular respect? ‘The same remarks equally apply to a bird’s song and to the language of mankind—each have to be learnt. A bird’s intellectual powers advance towards maturity much more quickly than in the human species. A young bird three or four days old is capable of considerable powers of memory and observation, and during the time that elapses in which it is in the nest it has ample opportunity of gaining an insight into the architecture peculiar to its species. It sees the position of the uest, it notes the materials, and when it requires one for itself, is it so very extraordinary that, profiting by such experience, it builds one on the same plan? Again, birds often return to the place of their birth the following season, and possibly see the old home many times ere they want one for themselves. This, aided by the strong hereditary impulse to build a nest similar to the one in which they were born, inherited from their parents, aids them in their task. Further, we know that some birds do not breed for several seasons after they are hatched, and consequently see the older birds at work and profit by the experience. The nests they build may, and do often, vary from the original type in many slight particulars ; and XX INTRODUCTION. it is by these slight variations, which, when beneficial, are preserved by natural selection, that birds adapt themselves to any changed conditions of life. With birds, as with man, “ when once a particular mode of building has been adopted and has been confirmed by habit and by hereditary custom it will be long retained, even when its utility has been lost through changed conditions ” (Wallace). Although many habits have long since ceased to be of any service, they are retained. Witness the fact of the hole-building Ducks covering their eggs like their congeners nesting in the open; the Jackdaws often elaborate a nest in a position where one even of the slightest description is of small necessity ; and our domestic Swan adds to its nest (undoubtedly a habit originally acquired for its protection from floods) when that nest is far removed from the waters. Neither birds nor men can change old habits suddenly. Witness how we still retain the side-straps and the arms in our first-class railway carriages (a custom handed down from the old coaching days), or the buttons on the backs of our coats (which were formerly used to fasten up the long tails), and many other cases which are now quite as useless as the instances noticed among birds. Another instance, the Apteryx of New Zealand (Apteryx australis) when it sleeps goes through the formality of placing as much of its head as possible under its rudimentary wings*. With regard to birds, however, these superfluous actions are in no way injurious to the species performing them—were they so, natural selection would assert its influence and would eliminate those individuals who did not conform to their changed conditions of life. It is thought a remarkable fact by some naturalists that species of very wide range should build typical nests throughout their distribution. But surely there is nothing extraordinary in this if the area of distribution is continuous! Cetti’s Warbler (Cettia cetti) is a good instance. This bird breeds from Spain and Algeria to Turkestan, and examples of its nest almost from these two extremes do not differ in the least in their con- struction ; but I do not see any thing remarkable in this, even though this bird is not migratory, for it breeds “ along the whole line,” and there is nothing to prevent one style of architecture being common to the speciest. The Woodchat Shrike (Lanius rufus) is another good instance. One of the great points brought forward in favour of instinct is the uniformity of the nests of the birds of each species, even though they be * Trans. New Zealand Institute, ii. p. 75 (1869). + It would be very interesting to know if those non-migratory species that are separated by discontinuous areas of geographical distribution build typical nests throughout. This is a subject of which we possess no information, and is well worthy the attention of those observers suitably situated for studying this interesting question, INTRODUCTION. a widely spread, in localities where they are subjected to various conditions. If this was strictly true, I think it would go far to prove the existence of instinct ; but it is not; for birds, even within the memory of living men, have been known to change and improve their nests under the influence of altered conditions. If a bird built by instinct, it is fair to assume that that instinct is unchangeable, and only allows the bird to build on a certain plan. Instinct practically remains stationary ; reason, however, advances. What proof have we of this? Swallows are a most interesting instance, they having partially ceased to build on rocks or in caves, choosing houses and sheds instead. Starlings and many other birds will readily take advantage of a box placed on the house-side for them, and abandon their hole in the trees for the new quarters. The House-Sparrow is another instance of a recently changed mode of nest-building ; so is the Waterhen, which often builds in trees in districts liable to sudden floods. Another instance: the Penguins on the Tristan d’Acunha group of islands have changed their mode of nesting from an open to a covered site, in conse- quence of the incessant persecution of the recently introduced wild pigs with which these islands now abound*. Many other instances might be cited all tending to prove that birds take advantage of any favourable circumstances to alter and improve their nests—a fact which can only be accounted for by the direct influence of their reasoning faculties. What may be regarded as direct evidence of a reasoning power employed by birds in making their nests may be seen in the wonderful way that many species assimilate their nests so closely to surrounding objects as to render their discovery very difficult, and the admirable plan on which some nests, especially of tropical species, are constructed. A good example is to be seen in the nest of the Common Tailor-bird of India (Orthotomus longi- cauda). This bird selects a broad leaf and draws the edges together with fibres, lining the cone, thus formed, with fine grass and vegetable down, and the ends of the fibres with which it is sewn are knotted as a tailor knots his thread ! I do not think, however, that Mr. Wallace is correct in all his details respecting the manner in which nests are built. I think we should be very careful in imputing the various apparent imperfections (and the per- fection, too) in the architectural qualities of birds’ nests to the appliances or tools with which they are constructed. To far more important causes I believe the many differences in these structures may be safely attributed ; and instead, therefore, of viewing the Swift’s rude nest, or the Ring-Dove’s wicker cradle as the inevitable results of imperfect natural appliances, they should be viewed as structures made perfect for the purpose they serve, and completely in harmony with the requirements of their builders. Instead of viewing the nests of the Chaffinch and the Wren as mere structures the * Notes by a Naturalist on the ‘Challenger,’ p. 125, XXll INTRODUCTION. paragon of perfection and architectural skill, the results of perfect natural tools, they should be regarded as nests, the only object their beauty and perfection serves beinga useful and protective one. A bird’s beak and its legs and feet are the tools with which its nest is made; yet neither on the form, the length, or any other peculiarity of these parts does the comparative beauty and perfection of the nest depend. The Wren has a finely pointed bill and long legs: with these tools she builds a well-made nest which seems to owe its perfect form and well-wove walls to the little creature’s natural nest-building tools. But the Chaffinch, with her comparatively clumsy bill and short legs, also makes a nest equally well woven, and even rivalling in its external appearance the Wren’s abode. The Tits, with their short bills and clumsy legs, build nests in holes in trees and walls—structures so poorly made that it is impossible to remove them entire. But the Long-tailed Tit (Acredula caudata and its allies), we know, with similar tools builds a nest in the branches the para- gon of beauty and well-wove perfection! The Dipper is another instance. The Swift, with its weak bill and short legs, seems unable to make an elaborate nest; but we know it seeks a hole for its purpose from other motives than its seeming inability to make one, and, as is the case with nearly all hole-building birds, irrespective of their natural tools, it is poorly made. ‘The Swallows and the Martins possess similar tools to those of the Swift, yet they build weli-made structures, either fastened to the eaves of buildings or on the beams and ledges in sheds and chimneys. The deli- cate Warblers (as, for instance, the Blackcap, the Whitethroat, and the Garden-Warbler), all with appliances similar to those of the Wren, make slight net-like nests; whilst the Finches (as, for instance, the Goldfinch, the Bullfinch, the Redpole, and the Chaffinch), with clumsy beaks and some- what short legs, weave nests well made and beautifully adapted to the purposes they serve. The Jay and most birds of the Crow tribe, particularly the Magpie (whose well-made and intricately woven nest is a masterpiece of nest-build- ing art), have powerful and somewhat clumsy bills and feet; yet we know their nests can compare favourably with those of any other class of birds. Many of the clumsy-billed Gulls with webbed feet make well-made nests ; as also do certain Raptores, Herons, the Coot, the Moorhen, the Grebes, the Ducks, and the Swans—nests that exhibit the same principles as those of the smaller birds, but of course carried out on a much larger scale. Again, what difference is there between the nest-building tools of the Sparrow-Hawk and the Kestrel? None whatever; yet the one builds a fairly made nest, and the other never makes a nest at all, and rears its young either in the deserted nests of other birds or on the ledges of the beetling cliffs, on no other resting-place than the bare rocks or the refuse of its food. The Woodpeckers, the Kingfisher, the Starling, and sometimes the INTRODUCTION. Xxill Jackdaw, well provided with the requisite appliances for building an elabo- rate nest, rear their young in structures poorly fabricated in the holes of trees, rocks, banks, or buildings, or do not make a nest at all. From the above-mentioned facts I think that we are perfectly justified in drawing the inference that birds are in no way influenced by the appliances they possess in building their nests. We have seen that birds are capable, quite irrespective of the form of their bills and feet, of making elaborate nests of matchless beauty, or poorly fabricated and very plain in appearance, respectively, and according to circumstances ; and we may therefore ‘rest assured that the nest-building capabilities of birds are not in any way subordinate to their natural appliances or tools for making their nests, but are regulated by, and subordinate to, the various conditions under which their young are produced, and especially by the colour of the eggs. Why does each species build a different kind of nest? Iam at present quite unable to say what influences birds in the choice of their materials. Mr. Wallace says that birds select those materials which are nearest to hand and easiest to obtain. He may be right; but when we find very differently constructed nests in the same localities, almost side by side, this explanation does not seem reasonable or sufficient. ‘The above re- marks on the nests of birds naturally draw our attention to Birds’ eggs studied in relation to their colour.—In these objects the chief peculiarity which claims our notice is their beautiful ground- colours and varied markings. Why, we naturally ask, do these eggs exhibit such diversity of colour? Why are some eggs white, whilst others are painted in tints rich and beautiful? or why are some spotless and others thickly marked? Some persons may urge that these colours are deve- loped for no object beyond that of adding to the beauty and harmony of Nature’s works, as they similarly urge the colours of the plumage of the birds themselves ; but let us see what an important part the colouring- matter of birds’ eggs plays in the economy of the birds—let us see how their complex and ever varying colours conform to the subtle influence of Law. ‘The colouring-matter of birds’ eggs is influenced by the bird’s mode of nidification, and is partly subordinated to the colours of the parents’ plumage. For convenience of treatment it is advisable to divide birds’ eggs into two great classes, quite irrespective of the affinities of the birds themselves, but solely in accordance with the fact of their being coloured or uncoloured, spotted or unspotted. Each of these great groups may be further subdivided into two subgroups which will include the exceptional cases to each. As regards white eggs, our first division will be White eggs laid in covered nests.—I think we must start with the very probable supposition that the eggs of the earliest forms of bird-life were white. Colour is a development for protective purposes, and to that cause alone must be ascribed all the wonderful and beautiful diversity of XXIV INTRODUCTION. tints with which so many birds’ eggs are now adorned. In most birds where the eggs are hid from sight, either in domed nests or in nests in holes, we never find their eggs exhibiting much colouring-matter—it is not required, therefore it is not developed. Eggs brought to maturity in such places are mostly pure white or pale blue, and only in the minority of cases more or less faintly spotted. As instances coming into this particular group we have the eggs of the Woodpeckers, the Kingfishers, the Rollers, Bee-eaters, Tits, Willow-Warblers, Wrens, nearly all the Owls, and the Martins, all of which are pure white or, in some few cases, sparsely spotted, and are laid in covered nests. ‘This law is almost universal, and, curiously enough, white eggs are correlated to a great extent with the brilliant plumage of the bird; for we have already seen how so many of. these showy birds breed in covered nests. Indeed it may almost be laid down as an axiom in oology that brilliant birds do not lay handsome eggs, and most of the finest marked eggs are laid by species of dull and sombre plumage. Every rule, however, has its exceptions; and we now have to notice White eggs laid in open nests.—If these examples are sufficiently numerous to merit the importance of a separate group, the existence of any laws of colour might be doubted by the casual observer. These instances are both striking and numerous; but when we come to study and investigate them, we find that they only tend to prove the-existence of such laws in a very marked degree. The Ducks all lay spotless eggs, light in colour, greenish white, cream-colour, and pure white, and as they lay in the nest are very conspicuous and readily seen at long distances. The Pheasant and the Partridge also lay eggs of colours not much aiding in their concealment. The Grebes may also be cited as instances. But all these birds possess the singular habit of covering their eggs with materials similar in colour to surrounding objects when they leave their nests. Take, as an instance, the Little Grebe. The nest of this bird is rarely indeed placed far from the water, to which the sitting bird instantly retires on the approach of danger. The eggs of this bird are very conspicuous ; but the moment danger threatens she adroitly covers them over with the materials around ere she glides hurriedly away. So perfect is this decep- tion that the nest is often passed by as a mere mass of reeds and rubbish, yet under it les the treasure she has so cleverly concealed. This little bird is ever on the alert for enemies; her mate also gives the signal of alarm, and so quickly does she accomplish her purpose that rarely indeed are her eggs seen exposed, except when the full complement is not laid. It has been urged, and several accomplished naturalists are still of the opinion, that birds do not cover their eggs for concealment, but for warmth. The Pheasant covers her eggs when she leaves them; but the Grouse is never known to do so. Now the former bird’s eggs are certainly INTRODUCTION. XXV conspicuous in an open nest, and those of the latter are well adapted by their colour to harmonize with surrounding tints. If warmth is required in the one case, certainly it should be in the other also. Again, I have known the Wild Duck cover her eggs so completely as almost to defy detection, and that, too, long before she had commenced to sit, and when no warmth was required. I think, therefore, that there can be little doubt that it is solely from motives of concealment that these conspicuous eggs are covered. Stevenson, in his ‘ Birds of Norfolk’ (11. p. 417), also confirms this opinion, and says that (in the case of the Moorhen) the pre- caution of covering the eggs is more particularly adopted when the nest is in an exposed situation. “But we find many conspicuous eggs laid in bare open places that are not concealed in such a cunning manner. We can take as an instance the Short-eared Owl, who lays her white eggs on the open fens and marshes, or many of the Goatsuckers, who deposit their white eggs in flimsy open nests, or certain Ground-Pigeons (Geophaps) of Australia, who lay their buffish-white eggs on the bare ground. How are such eggs protected ? In this manner :—The plumage of all these birds is remarkably protective and assimilates very closely with the surroundings; moreover, they possess the habit of sitting very closely, conscious that they resemble the ground or branches and cannot readily be seen; and so they brood over their conspicuous eggs, shielding them by their sober plumage until almost trodden upon, ere they rise from them. We might also notice another rather puzzling instance belonging to this group, and that is to be found amongst the Pigeons. The nests of nearly all these birds are remarkably similar—platforms of twigs built in trees, rocks, or on the ground ; and the eggs are in all cases, so far as is known, white, or nearly so, and spotless. Pigeons’ nests are very slight and inconspicuous, and, as a rule, built in the dense cover ; moreover, the birds themselves are exces- sively wary. Again the very fact that these birds are so abundant and so widely spread over the world, notwithstanding their open nests and white eggs, is, in itself, strong evidence that these birds and their eggs are not much exposed to enemies or are well able to elude them, and also shows us how cautious we should be in looking upon such facts as serious objec- tions opposed to laws of nidification and colour. As an instance of how complex this subject is, we might take the great family of the Goatsuckers. Some of these birds (Aigotheles, or Owlet Nightjars of Australia) lay white eggs in holes of trees; others, as the Frog-mouths (Podargide), build a Pigeon-like nest on a branch and lay white eggs, depending for safety on the protective colours of their own plumage ; whilst the true Goatsuckers, of which our Common Nightjar may be taken as an example, lay eggs on the bare ground of protective tints, as well as depending on the sober colours of their plumage for safety. It remains now but to notice in this group VOL. II. c XXV1 INTRODUCTION. ~such birds as the Herons, the Cormorants, Pelicans, and Storks, all of which lay conspicuous eggs in an open nest. It is quite evident in these cases that the birds by their own prowess alone shield their eggs from danger; besides, most of these birds are gregarious, and are well able to beat off any enemy that is likely to approach, if not singly, by uniting for the purpose, so that it is of no special advantage for them to conceal their eggs. We must also remember that these birds may have descended from a hole-building ancestor—most probably from an ancestor that laid colourless eggs. The coloration of eggs is characteristic in many groups of birds; and in these instances the eggs of the various species conform to those colours peculiar to their special~group, although they depend upon other sources for the requisite amount of protection than those which a remote ancestor practised. We now come to our second great division, in which the eggs are beautifully adorned with various hues; and, as our first group, we will take Spotted eggs laid in open nests,—As our first instances we notice two birds nesting on sandy shores, the Lesser Tern and the Ringed Plover. Both these birds lay eggs more or less sand-coloured, which circumstance effectually conceals them from view. A still more detailed account of the nesting of these two birds will serve to show even more closely the import- ance of this fact. The Ringed Plover’s eggs are far more minutely speckled than those of the Lesser Tern, and as a consequence we find them laid on the finest sand; but the Lesser Tern’s are more richly and elaborately marked, and they are only found amongst the coarser shingle, where their larger markings harmonize with surrounding tints most effectually. Take another instance. The Common Sandpiper’s eggs assimilate so closely with the tints around them as to make their discovery a matter of no small difficulty, as every oologist can testify who has searched for them. The Peewit’s eggs, dark in ground-colour and boldly marked, are in strict harmony with the sober tints of moor and fallow, and on this circumstance alone their concealment and safety depend. Another instance may be found in the eggs of the Dotterel, far up the hillsides, amongst the inces- sant mists, where their rich brown markings and stone-coloured ground- tints harmonize closely with the colours of their mountain resting-place. The Diver’s eggs furnish another example of protective colour; they are generally laid close to the water’s edge, amongst drift and shingle, where their dark tints and black spots conceal them by harmonizing closely with surrounding objects. The Snipes and the great army of Sandpipers furnish instances innumerable of protectively coloured eggs. In all the instances given the sitting bird invariably leaves the eggs uncovered when it quits them, and consequently their safety depends solely on the colours which adorn them. A passing word should here be given to the eggs of the Gulls. Some of these species depend for the safety of their eggs upon INTRODUCTION. XXVil the colours which adorn them ; but some species do not require such pro- tection, the birds being well able to guard them from any enemies by their own prowess. The law of imheritance explains this:—The Gulls have descended from a common ancestor—a form probably intermediate between a Gull and a Plover, which depended on the colour of its eggs for their safety ; and consequently we find a certain type of eggs peculiar to the whole group, of benefit to the majority of species, of little or no service to a few, but still retained by the law of inheritance. Those birds building open nests amongst the foliage of trees and shrubs, as a rule, lay eggs more or less of a green colour. The Crows in the top- most branches, the Thrushes in the lower shrubs, and many of the Warblers in the dense undergrowth may be cited as instances. Again, the Bullfinch and the Greenfinch lay bluish-white eggs, spotted with red, in open nests ; but these birds build in the darkest thickets and hedgerows and amongst evergreens. A word as to the marvellous variation and beautiful colours of the eggs of the Guillemot. The extraordinary amount of variation in the colour of these eggs appears to be a grave difficulty, and one which utterly refuses to conform to those laws that govern the tints with which so many birds’ eggs are adorned. It is one of those very few instances where Nature has seemingly run riot in her variations, in a similar manner to those which occur in domesticated animals; for once let the checks to variation be removed, and its ramifications are infinite and endless in a few generations. Why, we are apt to ask, do the Guillemot’s eggs vary so considerably ? Why are they allowed to present such diversity of colour whilst the eggs of most other birds are strictly confined to certain tints? We may attri- bute the vast variation in the colouring of their eggs to the comparatively easy conditions under which they are brought to maturity. The birds’ haunts are practically inaccessible ; they have few enemies of their eggs and young, and the variations which occur in their eggs are consequently of small moment. Each variety, according to the Guillemot’s present con- ditions of life, has no more favour than the other; but should the conditions of their existence change, should their eggs be exposed to some new danger, the variety best suited to those changed conditions would doubtless be most favoured—the others not so suitably coloured would, in the course of time, ultimately be weeded out by a rigorous selection, and the colours would most probably be confined to certain uniform protective tints. The colour of birds’ eggs is hereditary. A Guillemot that lays a green egg, always lays a green egg, and it will transmit. the faculty of laying a green egg to its offspring. This circumstance is not peculiar to the Guillemot, but is common to all birds; and the variation we see in every species is the produce of certain individuals and is transmitted to their young. Hence it is easy to imagine how thé Guillemot’s eggs would soon revert to a XXVill INTRODUCTION. uniform and protective tint were their conditions of life to demand it; birds laying eggs unadapted in colour to their changed conditions of life would have small chance of transmitting those injurious colours to pos- terity, would soon die out completely; and the birds that laid eggs most suitable to the changed conditions and in harmony with them would in- crease and multiply, and the colours on their eggs be preserved. This, I believe, is how all eggs have got their beautiful tints, and how they are preserved or changed as circumstances arise. Again, the young birds of many species absolutely depend for safety on the colour of their down. The Lapwing is arrayed in tints that put us in mind of the tropics; the sexes are alike; yet they build an open nest on the bleak common, moor, or pasture, where sometimes not a shrub or heath-tuft affords a haven of safety. Both birds lack weapons of defence ; but note how the safety of their young is insured: their sombre plumage of brown effectually conceals them from view. Upon the least alarm the brightly-coloured parents leave their helpless young, who instantly crouch to the ground and remain motionless ; their colour so closely harmonizes with surrounding tints as to hide them effectually from the enemy that menaces them. The young of the Game Birds, all the Sandpipers, and many sea-birds might also be given as instances, all of which (where the parents’ plumage is conspicuous and dangerous to the welfare of their eges or young, and which nest in an open site) have young of protective tints. As our last group we notice Spotted eggs laid in covered nests.—As we found the anomaly of white eggs in open nests, so we also find that of spotted and highly-coloured eges in covered nests. We will first notice a few instances amongst British birds. We take as our first example the Jackdaw, whose eggs are spotted and coloured in a remarkable manner, considering they are laid in a covered nest. The Chough is another instance, and the Magpie a third. I am inclined to believe that ‘these three birds have changed the form or position of their nest from an open to a covered one, and the eggs are consequently gradually losing their colours. The eggs of the birds just noticed are generally much paler than the eggs of the Crows laying in open nests, and they seem slowly reverting to a colourless type. When once any particular development ceases to be of any service, its tendency is gradually to die out; and this, I think, is the reason that so many birds nesting in covered sites lay eggs only slightly spotted, or, as in many cases, when compared with the eggs of the family. of birds to which they belong, show a marked decrease of coloration. The Robin’s eggs, as compared with those of its ally the Bluethroat (Hrithacus cerulecula), furnish another instance. The Robin’s nest is well concealed and often built in holes, and its eggs are often white or only faintly spotted; the Blue- INTRODUCTION. | Xxix” throat’s nest is open and more or less exposed, and its eggs are dark green and protective in colour. One of the best examples coming into the present group that I know of is to be found in the Grass- Warbler (Cisticola cursitans). This bird builds a purse-shaped nest amongst the grass, in which the eggs are hidden from view; and these eggs exhibit several very distinct types—white or blue spotted with rufous, and sometimes unspotted blue or white. Another instance may be found in the Australian genus Chthonicola, i which the nest is domed and the eggs are red or chocolate in colour. What do these facts teach us? I think that their explanation is to be found in the fact that these domed nests have only comparatively recently been adopted by these species, and the eggs have not yet lost their colour. These coloured eggs show a changed mode of nesting. Their colour remains unchanged, or alters very slightly; and we know many other contrivances are retained long after their direct use has passed away, because they are not in any way injurious to the welfare of the species, yet they have always a tendency to die out; in the case of eggs this, I think, is shown in such instances as Cisticola, in which we so often find a colourless or plain type. We may rest assured that these ‘colours have not been acquired since the nest has been covered; they are a previous development, most probably destined in time to pass completely away if the present conditions under which the eggs are brought to maturity remain unchanged for any length of time. From a study of all these interesting facts we learn that birds’ eggs ex- hibit such great diversity of colour for other and far more important ends than that of mere beauty; and their varied tints must be viewed (with all other beauty of colour in nature) as an object by means of which great ends are attained. A few words should now be given to Generic types of eggs, and what they teach.—The true relationship of birds is often demonstrated by a study of their eggs. The family like- ness of birds, which extends through an entire natural group, is stamped indelibly on their eggs. Thus the experienced oologist, guided by their pecu- liar characteristics, is able to separate at a glance the eggs of the Shrikes, the Crows, the Snipes, the Birds of Prey, or those of any other large natural group of birds. ‘This is almost as apparent in shape as in colour. Snipe’s and Plover’s eggs are extremely pyriform; Kingfisher’s and Roller’s are round ; Pigeon’s, Goatsucker’s, and Sand-Grouse’s are oval; Grebe’s are pointed at each end. We find these characters constant in each group respectively. Take, for instance, the great family of the Ducks (Anatide), numbering nearly two hundred species distributed throughout the world. All their eggs possess certain characteristics which enable us readily to identify them. The same remarks apply to the Sandpipers (Scolopacidz) XXX INTRODUCTION. and the Plovers (Charadriide), each of which great natural groups numbers upwards of a hundred species, which are as cosmopolitan as the Ducks ; and the eggs of both are so characteristic that a glance is sufficient to recognize them. Take, as another instance, the eggs of the great cosmopolitan family Laridz: those of the Gulls (Larinz) most nearly resemble those of the Sandpipers in colour, whilst those of the Terns (Sternine) show more affinity to the true Plovers ; and this may probably be accounted for by the nidification of each group resembling most closely that to which the eggs are allied in general appearance. The Game Birds are also another instance. So far as I know, the eggs of these birds never have any underlying mark- ings, all the colour is on the surface; and this is one great reason why the aberrant Hemipodes (Turnix) should be excluded from this group of birds, for their eggs possess both characters of markings, and therefore show the birds’ affinity to the Rails, the Plovers, or the Bustards*. Canon Tristram is probably right when he says that the style of architecture and coloration and form of the egg cast as much light on the true grouping of species and the arrangement of genera in the great subfamily of the Warblers (Sylviinze) as in any other class of birds. I think that it is even a better generic character than any the birds themselves are known to possess. This group of birds exhibits in a wonderful manner certain distinct types of eggs, a study of which alone will place the birds in almost the same position as that to which they have been assigned by the best systematists. Details cannot well be given here, but the remarks on this subject by Canon Tristram (‘ Ibis,’ 1867, p. 74) are worthy the perusal of all inter- ested in oology: it has been briefly noticed in the present work (vol. i. p. 373). The subfamily of the Thrushes (Turdine) is another remarkable instance, and might almost be split up into fairly natural genera by the coloration of the eggs alone. It is also very remarkable how the eggs of some birds resemble those of species belonging to very distantly related groups, where the conditions of nidification are similar; and this I think is one of the strongest proofs of a universal law of colour governing these objects. The Sand-Martin and the Woodpecker, or the Dipper and the Weaver-bird are good examples in which a covered nesting-site is peculiar to each and the eggs are uniformly white. In cases where the eggs differ considerably from those typical to the group, we generally find that the mode of nidification adopted by the species is from some cause different and aberrant too.. Take, for imstance,, the eggs of the American Quail (Ortyx virginianus), which are white and laid in a domed or covered nest, whilst those of the allied Plumed Quail (Lophortyx gambeli) are normally spotted and blotched, and, it is needless to say, laid in an open nest. * Conf. Hume, ‘ Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds,’ p. 554. INTRODUCTION. XXxl What do we infer from these interesting facts? What do they teach us ? I think they show beyond the possibility of doubt the more or less close relationship of one bird to another, and prove the community of origin of birds in each great natural group, in each family, and in many genera, Again, I feel convinced that community of origin and inheritance will account for, if it does not fully explain, much of the difficulty one meets with in a scientific study of oology. Concluding Remarks.—We have thus seen that birds, aided by a rigorous natural selection, strive to the utmost of their ability, in many different ways, to insure the protection of their eggs and young from danger until they reach maturity— “ Hach its well-chosen site selects where Nature To its best concealment aids and favours it.” Enemies numerous and deadly continually surround them—the prying Magpies and Jays, the subtle snakes and lizards, the active field-mice, rats, aud weasels are all passionately fond of eggs and search incessantly for them. We have seen that all the wiles birds display during the period of nidification, all or nearly all the beauty in their nests, all or nearly all the beauty in the colouring of their eggs and in much of the old and young birds’ plumage (in the former through the subtle working of sexual selection) are subservient to the conditions of reproduction, and may safely be attributed to a one great Protective Cause. The instances adduced in this paper in support of the laws of Inheritance and Bird-nidification have chiefly been selected from the birds of our own land. But were we to seek instances from other climes, where bird-life under favourable conditions exists on a much wider and more comprehen- sive basis, stil] more startling would our proofs become. As regards eggs, perhaps, but little more could be said; but as regards the plumage of birds and their nests—say in the Tropics—instances almost innumerable might be found showing how universal are those laws which govern the nidification of birds. Sufficient, however, I think has been said to show what an important part Colour plays in the nidification of birds, and that this part of their economy is governed most closely by law. If I have succeeded in showing, in this meagre paper, that Birds’ Eggs and Nests are not the unimportant objects they are so popularly believed to be, and that.a careful study of them, in conjunction with the birds themselves, helps to elucidate some of the grandest questions affecting organic life, my end has been amply attained. For no matter how unimportant an object or a series of facts may seem, we must not despise them and pass them by. Nature’s system is one mass of intricate complexity, becoming more evi- dent the more we study it ; and the only means of gaining an insight as to how that system works is by dealing with each phenomenon, not separately, xxxii INTRODUCTION. but as a relative part which assists in forming an almost perfect and har- monious whole. In the words of the illustrious Darwin :—“ When we no longer look at an organic being as a savage looks at a ship, as something wholly beyond his comprehension, when we regard every production of Nature as one which has had a long history, when we contemplate every complex structure and instinct as the summing-up of many contrivances, each useful to the possessor, in the same way as any great mechanical invention is the summing-up of the labour, the experience, the reason, and even the blunders of numerous workmen; when we thus view each organic being, how far more interesting (I speak from experience) does the study of natural history become ! ” Oology, as a science, is almost virgin ground for research, and its import- ance in elucidating much that is strange in the economy of birds is great. It is when Oology becomes more generally and comparatively studied, and an interchange of observations by oologists in various parts of the world effected, that the importance of protective colouring, mimicry, bird archi- tecture, &c. will become manifest, the present insufficiency of data bearing on the subject being a very great obstacle to its scientific progress. Every little detail, however insignificant it may seem, must be recorded ere we can gain a complete knowledge of this interesting branch of research; and - the remote history of a species must not be neglected where it can be traced with reasonable certainty. I hope to return to this fascinating subject at no distant date, treating it on a wider basis by including the nests and eggs of birds from all parts of the world. I shall be extremely obliged for any notes from any part of the world bearing on the subject of Birds’ Nests, Eggs, and Nidification ; for Iam convinced that it is only by collecting an immense variety of such facts that the subject can be successfully investigated. XXXII ADDENDUM. Page 142. Since writing the article on the Rustic Bunting, in which I copied the descrip- tion of the supposed eggs of this species given by Dresser in his ‘ Birds of Europe,’ I |have seen three clutches of eggs, said to be of this species, also collected in the neighbourhood of Archangel. As they agree with each other and differ from eggs of any other North-Russian species, it seems probable that they may be genuine eggs of the Rustic Bunting, though this cannot be regarded as proved until properly authenticated eges have been taken. The ground-colour varies from greenish white to bluish white, and the over- lying spots are greenish brown and the underlying spots greyish brown. The spotting is very profuse and more or less confluent at the large end of the egg; but there are no streaks, the character of the ege being that of a Sparrow rather than that of a Bunting. In this respect they show an affinity with the eggs of Emberiza melanocephala and E. luteola, and, to some extent, with those of Z. nivalis, though the latter often have some small streaks. They vary in length from ‘86 to ‘76 inch, and in breadth from ‘6 to ‘56 inch. The egg figured on Plate 15 is probably that of EF. dwteola, and those described by Dresser are probably eggs of FE, pusilla. I intend to figure one of these eggs on Plate 68. oh wt, a = ere on = 7 A t 5 ‘ + A \ : — = 4 ? ah. - 7 i ‘ r <, 74 . - - : > as , i‘ 7 : = eat ‘ . a : a % s2 - 4 > A = = = Z ; s @ re <A ‘ 4 AM — . RK fd = hs = . - i 7 - : 4 “ 4 1 For ns vi hs ? ; 4 : im »* y ¢ > se i >| 4 , r . ik % = {sed 5S , = Ee 1: = . ! - : ‘ i ‘ : - . a1 : - os : : ;| = i ¥ = . i 5 - = i : me EST ORY OF Bee boleh S Fe BARDS Subfamily AMPELIN A, on WAX WINGS. Tue Waxwings are a very small subfamily, consisting of birds having the wing of a Starling, the foot of a Shrike, and a bill intermediate between that of a Shrike and a Swallow. They are probably most nearly allied to the Shrikes and the Starlmgs: from the former they may at once be distinguished by the minuteness of their bastard primary, their short tarsus, and their nearly obsolete rictal bristles. Although they agree with the Starlings in having their bastard primary very small and their second primary long, combined with a short even tail and almost obsolete rictal bristles, ornithologists are perhaps justified in placing them in a distinct subfamily, in consequence of the shortness of their tarsus, their shorter, wider, and notched beak, and the presence of small bristles which cover the nostrils. The Waxwings only moult once in the year, in autumn. The young in first plumage differ from their parents in many respects, and are streaked on the underparts ; but this plumage is moulted during their first autumn. The Ampeline were in all probability originally an arctic group of birds, of which only eight species are at present known to exist. One of these is cireumpolar, one is confined to Japan, whilst a third inhabits the temperate portions of the Nearctic Region. The remaining five species inhabit the Neotropical portion of North America; only one species is European. MOL LL. B 2 BRITISH BIRDS. Genus AMPELIS. In the tenth edition of the ‘Systema Nature’ of Linneus, published in 1758, the Waxwings were included in the genus Lanius. In 1760 Brisson, in his ‘ Ornithologia,’ placed them in the genus Turdus; but in 1766, in the twelfth edition of his great work (1. p. 297), Linneeus associated them with half a dozen very distantly allied birds in a new genus, Ampelis. These strangers were subsequently removed to other genera by later writers, leaving the Common Waxwing as the type. In the birds of the genus Ampelis the shafts of the secondaries are either prolonged into wax-like appendages, or each feather has a red terminal spot to the outside web; the tail-feathers are broadly tipped either with yellow or red; and the throat, lores, and the feathers behind the eyes are black. They have also a well-developed crest. This genus contains only three species, one of which is confined to North America, one to Japan and the adjoin- ing mainland, whilst the third is circumpolar ; the latter is the only species found in Europe, and is an irregular winter visitor to the British Islands. In many of their habits the Waxwings resemble very closely the Rose- coloured Starling. They are very erratic in their migrations, and appear irregularly in certain districts often in considerable numbers. They chiefly frequent pine- and larch-woods; but when wandering far from their breeding-grounds in winter, they seem to have no preference for any particular haunt. They are comparatively tame birds, and resemble the Titmice somewhat in their actions. They possess scarcely any song. Their food consists of fruit, berries, and insects. They build open cup-shaped nests placed in the branches of trees, and made of twigs, moss, feathers, lichens, &c. Their eggs are from five to seven in number, varying from French white to sea-green in ground-colour, spotted, blotched, and speckled with deep brownish black and pale underlying markings of lilac. WAXWING. 3 AMPELIS GARRULUS. WAXWING. (Puatre 11.) Turdus Bombycilla bohemica, Briss. Orn. ii. p. 333 (1760). Ampelis garrulus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 297 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum— Bonaparte, Temminch, (Keyserling § Blasius), Degland, Salvadori, Baird, Ridg- way, Dresser, Newton, &e. Bombyciphora polioccelia, Meyer, Vog. Liv- u. Esthi. p. 104 (1815). Bombycivora garrula (Linn.), Temm. Man. d@ Orn. p. 77 (1815). Bombycilla garrula (Linn.), Vieill. N. Dict. d’ Hist. Nat. Xvi. p. 523 (1817). Parus bombycilla, Pall. Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat, i. p. 048 (1826), This charming and interesting bird may be regarded as an irregular winter visitor to Great Britain, having been met with in almost every county, in some years in considerable numbers. It was first made known as a British bird by Lister in the ‘Philosophical Transactions’ (1685, no. 75, p. 1161, fig. 9), from specimens shot at York in January 1681. From this early date down to the present day the Waxwing has occurred almost yearly in some parts of Great Britain. Among the years when it appeared in extraordinary numbers may be cited the winters of 1830-31, 1834-35, 1849-50, and 1866-67. This latter will long be remembered by British ornithologists as one of the great Waxwing seasons. The whole of 1866 (the year of the eattle plague) was wet, the mild winter at each end being scarcely distinguishable from the cold Summer between. On New-Year’s day frost and heavy snow set in. Early in November great numbers of the Bohemian Waxwing made their appearance. The largest flocks were seen in Norfolk; but north of that county many birds were shot at Scarborough, Newcastle, Berwick, up to Aberdeen and Inverness, and to the south they were obtained as far as Dover and Rye. It is of far more frequent occurrence in the eastern counties than in the midland and western; this is doubtless because the birds are so eagerly sought after and shot upon their arrival on our eastern coasts that comparatively few succeed in reaching the more distant parts of the king- dom. In Scotland the Waxwing is almost as well known as it is in England as an uncertain and irregular winter guest. It has not been obtained in the Outer Hebrides, but has occurred on Skye and the Orkney, Shetland, and Faroe Islands. In Ireland, as might be expected, it is of much less frequent occurrence, most probably for the reasons above cited. The Waxwing is almost a circumpolar bird, breeding in the pine-regions of both hemispheres at or near the Arctic circle. It is common, though very local, in Lapland ; and most of the eggs of this bird in collections have B2 I BRITISH BIRDS. been obtained there. I have seen it in its breeding-season in the valleys of the Petchora and the Yenesay; and Middendorff met with it during winter on the shores of the Sea of Ochotsk. Mr. Dall states that its eggs have been obtained near Fort Yukon in Alaska; and it has been found during the breeding-season in the valley of the Anderson River, north of the Great Bear Lake. It possibly may not breed further east in America ; but very little is known of the arctic regions of either continent, and the Waxwing is so erratic in its habits, breeding in enormous numbers in a certain district for some seasons and then almost deserting it for several years, that it may easily have been overlooked. The Waxwing is as erratic in its choice of winter-quarters. It is a very irregular migrant, wandering southwards on the approach of cold weather, and revisiting the north whenever a thaw of sufficient length occurs. Throughout Central Europe it isa tolerably regular winter visitor. It occurs accidentally on Heligoland, and occasionally strays as far west as France and as far south as Lombardy and Turkey, but has not yet been recorded from Spain or Greece. It winters in South Siberia, occasionally straying as far as Turkestan, Mongolia, North China, and the north island of Japan. In America its winter range extends as far south as Lakes Michigan and Erie ; but it appears to be only an accidental straggler further east, and it is doubtful if it has ever occurred west of the Rocky Mountains. One of the nearest allies of the Waxwing is the Japanese Waxwing (A. phenicoptera), which breeds in Japan and wanders in winter to the valley of the Lower Amoor and North China, and occasionally to Formosa. This species may be easily distinguished from its arctic ally by having the yellow at the tip of the tail replaced by red, and by having no “ wax ” tips to the secondaries, the white tips on their outside webs being replaced by red. A still nearer ally is the American Waxwing or Cedar-bird, A. cedrorum, which is said to inhabit the whole of North America as far north as lat. 52°, extending southwards to Guatemala, Jamaica, and Cuba in winter. This bird is somewhat less than the northern species, and like it has the “wax” tips to the secondaries and the yellow tips to the tail, but is without the white on the wing. The Cedar-bird has been erroneously included in the British list, in several cases skins of this species having been substituted by dishonest bird-stuffers for specimens of the Waxwing shot in this country. I was fortunate enough to meet with a small party of Waxwings as IT was walking down the Glossop Road to business into Sheffield on the morning of the 29th of December, 1866. My attention was arrested by three or four birds which flew across the road and alighted in a Jaburnum tree in Miss Ray’s garden. I imagined from their flight that. they must be Starlings; but fancying that they showed white marks on the WAXWING. 5 wing, I had the curiosity to step across the road to get a nearer view of them. The tree on which they alighted was only a few yards from the road, and I watched them over the wall for some time. I recognized them at once by their crests. The yellow markings on the wings and tail were very conspicuous, and I fancied I could distinguish the red wax-like appendages. They were very active, putting themselves in all sorts of posi- tions, and did not seem at all disturbed by my scrutiny ; and when at las: they flew away, and I turned round to continue my walk, I found that quite a small crowd had collected behind me, one of whom (probably a Sheffield grinder, and consequently well up in pigeons, dogs, and other branches of sporting zoology) volunteered the information that they were French Starlings. I sent a short notice of the appearance of these illus- trious strangers in our town to one of the local papers ; and the followmg day more than one gentleman assured me that birds agreeing with my description had been seen in Broomhall Park, and on the 31st two speci- mens were shot there by the gardener of Mr. Willis Dixon; so that it is probable that the flock continued in the neighbourhood for some days. A few months afterwards I bought a pair of these birds and kept them in a cage for some time. They were most voracious eaters, and the cage required cleaning several times a day. They were very active and restless, and even when perched at rest seemed to be continually moving their heads. If alarmed they would stretch out their necks to almost double the usual length. They were remarkably silent birds; the only note I heard was a cir-ir-ir-ir-re, very similar to a well-known note of the Blue Tit. Occasionally this succession of notes was repeated so rapidly as to form a trill like the song of the Redpole. The Waxwing is almost omni- vorous. Mr. Gunn, of Norwich, through whose hands more than a hundred birds passed in the winter of 1866-67, found their food to consist of the berries of the guelder-rose, dog-rose, whitethorn, and privet ; those of the dog-rose, being too large for one mouthful, were picked to pieces. Collett, who dissected birds shot at their breeding-grounds in Finmark in July, found the stomachs filled almost exclusively with entire or dismem- bered bodies of a species of crane-fly allied to our ‘Tommy long-legs.”’ One of the males had some juniper-berries in his gullet. Other ornitholo- gists have found various berries and insects in the stomachs of these birds; and in confinement they feed greedily on bread and carrots. The Waxwing is generally very fat in winter, and is highly esteemed as an article of food. Hundreds are sold in the frozen market of St. Peters- burg at three-halfpence each. Although this bird has been well known to ornithologists for some centuries, its breeding-grounds were only discovered as recently as 1856. Before that date various legendary stories of its breeding in holes of trees and amongst rocks were recorded; and, incredible as it may seem, were 6 BRITISH BIRDS. repeated as late as 1870 in what professed to be a scientific work on the History of British Birds. The merit of the discovery belongs to John Wolley. This indefatigable ornithologist spent five consecutive summers, and two out of the four intervening winters, in Lapland in searching for the eggs of this and other rare birds; but, owing to the erratic habits of this species, he did not succeed in his object until the fourth summer. Like the Rose-coloured Starling, the Waxwing continually changes its breed- ing-grounds. These two birds breed in enormous colonies in localities which they probably choose from year to year, in places where an abundant supply of food can be obtained. Wolley’s headquarters were at Muoniovara, a Swedish village on the river Muonio, opposite the Russian village of Muonioniska, about halfway between the Gulf of Bothnia and the southern extremity of the Porsanger fjord. During the first three summers, although he was very successful in obtaining eggs of many birds of which authenticated specimens were then unknown, it was not until the summer of 1856 (his fourth season) that the nests of the Waxwing were obtained by his faithful servant Ludwig Matthias Knoblock. Six nests were brought in to him, but he himself did not see one én situ. In 1857 he succeeded in finding a nest, which had been deserted a day or two before, and beneath which the broken eggs were lying on the ground ; but during that season eight nests were brought to him. The followiig summer this district was apparently chosen by the Waxwings as their headquarters ; and Wolley’s collectors obtained nearly a hundred and fifty nests containing nearly seven hundred eggs, most of which were sent to him in England, he having visited Iceland that year in search of the Great Auk. On his return from this expedition his health began to fail, and in November 1859 British Ornithology lost its most promising student at the early age of thirty-five. The first discovery of the nest of the Waxwing was made in the valley of the Kemi in Russian Lapland. Ludwig made an expedition to the Kittila river early in June, having in some places to wade up to his middle in snow. Arrived at Sardio, where he had apparently commissioned the natives to search for him, he found, as would naturally be the case whilst the snow was in process of melting, every one at home “ deep in dirt and laziness.” He soon ascertained from them that a pair of Waxwings had been seen in the neighbourhood ; and accordingly he started off at once into the forest, and there he saw a bird which he took to be a Waxwing, but he was not quite sure, for in the sunshine the end of its tail looked white, instead of yellow as in the picture with which Wolley had provided him. On the following day it was cloudy, and Ludwig saw the yellow on the tail, and had no longer any doubt. He engaged the Russian boys by the day, telling them that they must search, even if it were for a week, till they had found the nest. They sought all that night and the next day till WAXWING. 7 about noon, when a lad called out that he had found the nest ; and there it was, about nine feet high on the branch of a spruce. Ludwig succeeded in snaring the old bird, a beautiful cock, at the end of five days, and packed up the nest, eggs, and bird in a strong box until Wolley’s arrival. Wolley writes :—‘‘ You can fancy how eagerly I waited for Ludwig to produce the eggs. With a trembling hand he brought them out—but first the nest beautifully preserved ; it is made principally of black ‘tree-hair’ (lichen), with dried spruce-twigs outside, partially lined with a little sheep’s grass and one or two feathers—a large deep nest. The eggs—beautiful !— magnificent !!—just the character of the American bird. An indescribable glow of colour about them! ..... Almost every day (and it is now the sixth since that of my arrival here) Ludwig has told me the whole story of the Sidensvan’s nest, and I am never tired of hearing it :—how the season was very backward ; how in their expedition he and Piko Heiki were getting very much out of spirits at the little success they met with; how he saw the bird in the sunshine; how, when at last the nest was found, he could scarcely believe his eyes; how he went to it again and again, each time convinced when at the spot, but believing it all a dream as soon as he was at a distance; the rising and falling of the crest of the bird; its curious song or voice. All he is eager to tell over and over again ; and I have the fullest version, with all the ‘I said,’ ‘ Heiki said,’ ‘ Michel said,’ ‘ Ole said,” &c. Since Wolley’s great discovery many other nests of the Wax- wing have been obtained by various ornithologists. In 1857 Dr. Nylander obtained a nest with five eggs from the island of Ajos at the head of the Gulf of Bothnia, off the coast of Finland. In 1858 Dresser obtained a nest with unfledged young from the island of Sanden, twenty-seven miles from Uleaborg, a little to the south of the previous locality. In 1862 Wheelwright obtained a nest with two eggs near Quickiock ; in 1868 Nordvi procured its eggs in north-east Norway; and in 1872 Mr. Berlin discovered two nests containing eggs in the same district. A nest of the Waxwing, which Mr. Nordvi procured for me from Muonioniska, is a large and very compact structure. The outside diameter is seven inches, and the inside four inches. It is about four inches high outside, and nearly two inches deep. The foundation is made of twigs of the spruce-fir and reindeer-moss. The nest itself is composed of feathers and black hair-lichen, interwoven together with very slender twigs and a little moss and inner bark, the feathers being most numerous in the lining. Five or six, and occasionally seven, is the number of eggs laid. Newton (in whose collection the greater part of the enormous series obtained by Wolley still remains) describes them as measuring from 1:11 to ‘82 in length by ‘73 to ‘64 inch in breadth. He writes :—“ The ground is most generally of a delicate sea-green, sometimes fading to French white, but very often of a more or less pale olive, and occasionally of a dull 8 BRITISH BIRDS. purplish grey. On this are almost always bold blotches, spots, and specks of deep brownish black, though sometimes the edges are blurred. Beneath these stronger markings there is nearly always a series of blotches or streaks of greyish lilac, and among them well-defined spots or specks of yellowish brown are interspersed. In some eggs the darkest markings are quite wanting, in others the ground is of a deep olive-colour.” The adult male Waxwing is an exquisitely beautiful bird. The upper parts are a delicate vinaceous brown, gradually shading into chestnut on the forehead, and into pale slate-grey or dove-colour on the rump and upper tail-coverts. A narrow frontal band, the lores, and the feathers behind the eyes are black. The quills and tail-feathers are dark brown, nearly black, varied with a broad yellow band across the tips of the tail- feathers, and a narrow band of the same colour on the outside webs of the primaries at the tip, and a white band across the tips of the primaries on the inside webs, and on the outside webs of the secondaries at the tips. The primary-coverts are tipped with white, and the shafts of the secondaries are prolonged and flattened into scarlet tips. A similar development of the shafts of the tail-feathers frequently occurs. The underparts are vinaceous brown on the breast and flanks, shading into greyish white on the centre of the belly and into chestnut on the cheeks. At the base of the lower mandible on each side is a white streak. The chin and upper throat are black, and the under tail-coverts chestnut. Bill nearly black, paler at the base; legs, feet, and claws black ; irides hazel. The difference in plumage between the sexes of the Waxwing is still a disputed question amongst ornithologists. A great proportion of males have large wax-like appendages to the tips of the secondaries, broad bright yellow tips to the tail-feathers, and have the bright yellow tips of the out- side web of the primaries connected with a white tip at the end of the inside web, making the marking on the primaries V-shaped. Most of the females have the wax-like appendages smaller, the tips of the tail-feathers narrower and paler, and the tips of the outside webs of the primaries pale and entirely wanting at the end of the inside webs, thus causing the markings on the primaries to be I-shaped. Males of the year generally are indistinguishable from females, but frequently are slightly intermediate between the two sexes when adult in one or all of the points alluded to. The presence of wax on the tail-feathers and on the eighth secondary, which is without the white stripe on the outside web, is apparently a question of vigour or age, and not of sex. The richness of the chestnut of the under tail-coverts and of the black of the throat appears to be a question of age. The Waxwing is most brilliant in plumage immediately after the autumn moult, which takes place late in October. I have an example in my collection in full moult obtained at Krasnoyarsk on the 3rd of November ; examples from the same locality in May are already considerably faded. WAXWING. 2 The alleged females in collections with V-shaped markings on the primaries are so rare that we may suppose them to be old and barren females which have assumed the male plumage, or it is possible that a mistake in the sexing or labelling may have occurred. Young in first plumage resemble females, but are paler in colour, and are without the black on the throat ; the underparts are streaked, and the wax-like appendages to the secondaries are few and small. 10 BRITISH BIRDS. Subfamily STURNIN A&A, on STARLINGS., The minute bastard primary and the great length of the second primary, which is the longest in the wing, together with the absence of the nasal bristles and of scutellations at the back of the tarsus, are characters which diagnose the Starlings from the other subfamilies of the Passeride. The tarsus is moderately long and scutellated in front, and the bill is straight, slender, and unfurnished with rictal bristles. The Starlings moult once a year in autumn, the spring plumage being attained by casting the ends of the feathers. The young in first plumage differ considerably from their parents, being a nearly uniform brown more or less streaked on the underparts ; but this plumage is lost by the first autumn moult. The Sturnine are an Old-World group of birds, found in every part of the eastern hemisphere, except in the arctic and antarctic regions and on the continent of Australia. Wallace includes 124 species in this group of birds. Four only are found in Europe, of which one is a resident in the British Islands and a second is a rare straggler to our shores. Genus STURNUS. Linneeus included the genus Sturnus in the 12th edition of his ‘ Systema Nature,’ published in 1766 (vol.i. p. 290). The Common Starling, because it is the Sfurnus sturnus of Brisson, has indisputable claims to be considered the type. The most striking peculiarity in the Starlings is the metallic tint of their plumage—purple, green, and bronze. This character is sufficient, in conjunction with their size, to distinguish them from all other European birds. The rictal bristles are obsolete, and the nostrils are bare of feathers, but half-covered with a-soft horny operculum. The forehead is very depressed ; and the feathers on the head, throat, ant breast are Ego gated something like the hackles of a Cock. The genus Sturnus contains about eight or nine species and aes confined to the central and southern portions of the Palearctic Region and the extreme north of the Oriental Region. In their habits the Starlings are gregarious. They frequent pastures, STURNUS. 11 where they are very fond of closely attending cattle while feeding, and almost every other kind of haunt, both mland and on the coast, notably near houses and ruins. Their food consists of insects, worms, grubs, fruit, berries, and various kinds of seeds. Their call-notes are harsh; but they have considerable powers of song, and in confinement readily learn to imitate different tunes and even words. Their flight is very strong and powerful, and on the ground they walk orrun. They build bulky slovenly nests of grass, straws, roots, feathers, and almost every kind of material to hand, placing them in holes of walls, rocks, trees, or buildings. Their eges are from four to six in number, greenish blue in ground-colour, without any markings. 12 BRITISH BIRDS. STURNUS VULGARIS. STARLING. (Pirate 11.) Sturnus sturnus, Briss. Orn. il. p. 489 (1760). Sturnus vulgaris, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 290 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum— Gmelin, Latham, Scopoli, Bonaparte, Salvadori, Degland § Gerbe, Newton, Dresser, &c. Sturnus varius, Wolf, Taschenb. i. p. 208 (1810). Turdus solitarus, Lath. apud Montagu, Orn. Dict. Suppl. (1818). Sturnus solitarius (Lath.), apud Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. Sc. Brit. Mus, p.18 (1816). Sturnus guttatus, Macgill. Brit. B. i. p. 595 (1837). Sturnus europeeus, Linn., fide Blasius, Journ. Orn. 1863, Bericht, p. 60. Sturnus faroensis, Feilden, Zoologist, 1872, p. 3257. The Starling is one of the commonest and most widely distributed of our indigenous birds. It is of less frequent occurrence in the breeding- season in Wales and in Cornwall; but otherwise nests commonly in almost every county of England. In Scotland it has considerably increased in numbers within the last half-century. According to Mr. Gray, thirty years ago it was comparatively a scarce bird throughout the Scottish mainland, although in the Western Isles, Orkney, and Shetland it appears to have always been a common resident. At the present time, however, it is aresident bird near all the large Scotch towns, generally distributed over the cultivated districts, and breeds in almost every county. In Ireland the Starling is not so widely distributed, and is best known as a winter visitor, its breeding-places being somewhat local. On the Faroes it is a common and resident bird; and a specimen was sent from Greenland by Holbdéll to Copenhagen in 1851; but it does not appear to have ever been noticed in Iceland. The Starling has been introduced into New Zealand ; and being such a hardy and favourite cage-bird, its colonization in other parts of the world is probably only a question of time. The Starling breeds throughout Europe north of lat. 44°, and is a resident in the Azores. In Scandinavia it is found as far north as lat. 69°, in Sweden and Finland up to lat. 65°, and in the Urals only up to lat. 57°, which also appears to be its northern limit in Asia, The European birds that are migratory winter in the south of France, the Spanish peninsula, Italy, Greece, North Africa, and Palestine. In Asia it. breeds in South Siberia, Persia, and Turkestan, ranging as far east as the sources of the Amoor, passing through Mongolia on migration, and wintering in India. The Starling has two very near allies. In eastern Asia Minor, where it is probably a resident, and in Turkestan and Afghanistan, whence it STARLING. 13 migrates in autumn to the Punjaub and North-west India, Sturnus purpu- rascens occurs, distinguished by its bronze-coloured wings and flanks, and, on an average, longer beak. In Sindh, Cashmere, and Nepal S. indicus is a resident, distinguished by its small size, the wing measuring from 4°25 to 4°75 inch (the wing of S. vulgaris measures from 4°85 to 5°3). In all these species the colour occasionally changes from green to purple, according to the position in which the bird is held as regards the light ; they are also probably subject to some slight local variations in colour. The Starling is almost as closely associated with man as the Sparrow ; but, unlike that bird, it seems to have a peculiar way of accommodating itself to its surroundings with the greatest ease. Thus we sce it almost everywhere and in every variety of scenery. It will share the eaves and the dovecot with the Sparrows and Pigeons; it will nestle in the hollow trees far away from houses, or make its home just as easily in the sides of the stupendous ocean-cliffs in company with the noisy crowd of sea-birds, or on the limestone rocks further inland. After the breeding-season the Starling becomes even more widely distributed, and from August until the following spring haunts fields and marshes, commons, gardens, and the low-lying shores, as its food-supply may be the most abundant. The Starling is a gregarious bird at all seasons of the year; but this habit is most marked after the nesting-season, for in spring the scarcity of suitable breeding-places usually disperses them. Early in the year, sometimes as soon as the middle of January, the Starling returns almost daily to its old nesting-place, and in a week or so the male begins his unpretentious song. He usually sings when perched on a chimney or on the eaves near his nesting-hole, or on the tree-tops near at hand; and his song is warbled forth as he ruffles the feathers of his head and throat and shakes and droops his wings, as though full of nervous excitement. Although many of the Starling’s notes are harsh, still some of them are very full and pleasing, and heard as they are, at a season when every sign of returning spring is eagerly looked for and welcomed, are certainly one of the most cheerful sounds that greet the ear. Each note is uttered in seeming caprice; the harsh ones are mingled with the sweet ones with no approach to order. It is indeed a strange song, and cannot be mistaken for that of any other British bird, the Rose- coloured Starling excepted. The Starling’s alarm-notes are very harsh and rapidly repeated, resembling somewhat those of the Missel-Thrush. Its call-note is a clear long-drawn piping cry. Karly in April, sometimes not until the beginning of May, the Starlings have mostly mated and gone to their breeding-holes. Previous to this, however, much quarrelling goes on for the choice of suitable sites ; the strong gain the best located holes, whilst the weak seek quarters elsewhere. The Starling will build its nest almost everywhere, and it needs but slight 14 BRITISH BIRDS. encouragement to take up its quarters in any suitable hole or box placed for its reception. It will even dislodge large tiles and burrow considerable distances under the eaves; and its bulky nest often stops up some spout, to the dismay of the householder. A hole in the gable or inside the dovecot are also favourite places, whilst its partiality for holes in trees is none the less. It also commonly breeds in ruins, churches, and old masonry of every description. In the wilder portions of the country the Starling selects a hole either in a tree or rock for its purpose; and it will often breed in great numbers in caves or in the crevices of the ocean- cliffs. The nest is sometimes but a few inches from the entrance to the hole, at others it is several feet, and in many cases, especially in trees and rocks, is absolutely inaccessible. In the Outer Hebrides, where trees are absent, the Starling breeds, according to Mr. Gray, under the stones on the beach, in disused rat-holes, in turf-dykes, and in holes in walls. Saxby states that in Shetland it breeds in peat-stacks and rabbit-holes. It has also been known in one or two instances to build an open and exposed nest in trees, to rear its young in a hole in the ground, and to share the same nest with a Magpie. The Starling’s nest is a somewhat slovenly structure, made of straw, dead grass, and rootlets, sometimes a twig or two, and is lined with a few feathers, a little wool, or even a scrap or two of moss, paper, rag, or twine. In many cases the birds do not trouble about a lining at all; and the cup of the nest is entirely composed of straws, arranged very evenly and smoothly, but with a lot of straggling bents around it. The nest is in some cases much more elaborately made than in others ; and in some holes the dry and powdered wood at the bottom almost does sole duty for a bed. With great perseverance the Starling will continue to build in the same hole, although its nest is repeatedly removed, and each year the birds will return to their old quarters. The eggs of the Starling are from four to seven in number, six being an average clutch. They are slightly elongated and rough in grain, but very highly polished, and are a delicate greenish blue, sometimes very pale bluish white. They vary in length from 1:25 to 1°] inch, and in breadth from *88 to ‘80 inch. From the eggs of the Rose-coloured Starling, those of the present species may always be distinguished by their greenish or bluish tints ; those of the former are shining white, almost like a Woodpecker’s. The Starling, in most cases, rears two broods in the year, sometimes three, though this has been denied. As soon as the young of the first broods can shift for themselves they are abandoned and roam about in flocks, and their parents go off to their nesting-holes again. As is usual with life-paired birds, the Starling will continue to lay in its old nest, although its eggs are repeatedly taken. Dixon, in a single season, has taken from a nest of this bird as many as forty eggs; and he has every STARLING.. 15 reason to believe that they were laid by one pair of birds. In the Starling’s laying-season, as most egg-collectors are probably aware, the bird often drops an egg upon the fields. During the hatching-period the female, who sits very closely, is fed assiduously by the male. Dixon has known this bird remove its eggs from a hole from which they were con- stantly being taken. Few birds are more noisy than young Starlings; and throughout the rearing-period their nest-hole is betrayed to any passer- by by the clamouring young within, who greet their parents’ arrival with a chorus of cries. But far different is the case with the old birds, who are usually very wary, and always silent at the nest. As previously stated, the Starling is gregarious. It looks a remarkably handsome bird as it wanders about the grass-plot or the meadows, pro- gressing with slow and regular pace, every now and then stopping to pull up aworm or dislodge a beetle from the little heaps of manure. It is also very fond of searching the ground where cattle are feeding, and may repeatedly be seen perched on the backs of sheep, which it rids of various vermin. If alarmed, the whole of the flock generally take wing simultaneously, and alight in the nearest tree-tops, where they keep up an incessant chorus of mixed harsh and musical notes. The flight of the Starling is very rapid and well-sustained, performed by a series of rapid beatings, occasion- ally varied by smooth gliding motions with the wings expanded. As a proof of the Starling’s great powers of wing may be mentioned the fact that it may very often be seen high in the air coursing about in search of insects, like the Swallows and Swifts. It will sometimes mount to a great height and perform evolutions which we are apt to think astonishing from any bird save those just mentioned. When in the air thus, the bird seldom utters a note, and it will often keep flying about for an hour or more. The food of the Starling is for the most part of the year composed of worms, slugs, and beetles; but in winter these birds are often seen to feed on grain aud seeds. In autumn they are very fond of fruit and berries. Elderberries are part of their favourite food, and soon the trees, which had previously bent under the weight of their clustering branches of black fruit, will be totally denuded. In severe weather they will sometimes feed on hips and haws; and are often seen on the low- lying coasts searching for sand-worms and various small mollusks. The Starling, like most other birds, has not escaped a certain amount of persecution, and is charged with several offences. The gardener says it robs his fruit-trees ; the farmer, that it destroys his Pigeons’ eggs; whilst very recently the poor bird was accused of eating Larks’ eggs to such an extent as to cause a perceptible decrease of those fine choristers in certain districts! To the former of these charges the bird must perhaps plead guilty, but its depredations are small and amply repaid by 16 BRITISH BIRDS. its good offices for the rest of the year; whilst of that of egg-stealing, there can be little doubt that it is most wrongfully accused. Gray and Saxby bring forward very conclusive evidence of this bird’s evil propen- sities, but such instances are only exceptional. Waterton’s defence of the Starling leaves no room for further remark. In autumn, when the young are all reared and family cares are over for the year, the habits of the Starling are the most interesting and easiest to observe. ‘The birds are now at liberty to follow their gregarious instincts to the full, and the size of the flocks is sometimes almost beyond belief. The smaller flocks, chiefly composed of young birds, join together; the old birds unite with them, until each district possesses its flock. In the daytime they may be seen on the fields and marshy lands in search of food, or on the tree-tops, which they almost blacken with their numbers, keeping up an incessant babel of sounds. Their evolutions in the air at this period are also highly interesting, especially at nightfall, ere they finally settle down to roost. It is astonishing how regular the flock will wheel and gyrate in the air, as though moved by one common impulse. They appear like a huge net as it hovers for a moment above the reed-bed where they roost—now the horizon seems clouded with their numbers as they turn full towards the observer; the next moment they will turn rapidly, seeming to disappear; then appear again in a clustering mass, to turn and poise, spread, close up, rise, and descend ere alighting. Regularly each night the birds repair to certain roosting-places. Some- times the flock will divide into several portions, each to seek a different roosting-place, uniting again at dawn. These clouds of Starlings often assume various shapes as they pass through the air, sometimes like huge balloons, then changing to a spiral, or spread out like a net, and some- times like a thin indistinct wreath of smoke. Sometimes a flock will roost in a large wood, a plantation, or more frequently in a low shrubbery. These places are a common rendezvous for all the birds in the district ; flock joins flock; and their aerial movements and babel of cries make the place, ornithologically, a most interesting one. At this season of the year Starlings often congregate with Rooks and Jackdaws on the pastures, and later in the year with Redwings. When alarmed, the Starlings, as if to a bird obeying a commander’s voice, fly off in a compact mass, and if the danger soon passes they will wheel and return again in the greatest order. The Rooks and Daws will scurry off in all directions, and the Redwings will seek the nearest trees in a long straggling train, but the Starlings seem to act under one common impulse. During the whole winter Starlings are very erratic in their movements; they lead a nomad kind of life, wandering about the country in search of food, or even extending their journeys across the sea if the winter be severe. A few individuals, who prefer to lead a hermit-life instead of joiming the bustle of “ Society,’ may almost STARLING. 17 always be seen, no matter how hard the frost; but the great majority of birds retreat before it. In this country the Starling may be fairly considered a resident bird ; but there is no doubt that it receives large additions to its numbers from Northern Europe every season. It is also a well-known bird at Heligo- land, and passes that isolated rock yearly on its migrations. Flocks of Starlings are also believed to cross over from the south-west of Scotland to Ireland, where, as previously stated, the bird is best known as a winter visitor. On our coasts during the period of migration the Starling is often seen at the lighthouses, and numbers perish by dashing against the lantern, dazzled by its glare. The adult male Starling in full breeding-plumage is a very handsome bird. Almost all the small feathers are dark metallic purple or green, those on the upper parts below the nape having arrow-shaped buff tips, most conspicuous on the sides of the rump, but almost obsolete on the centre of the back. The underparts are unspotted, but the under tail- coverts have broad buff edges. The wings and tail-feathers are brown, with broad glossy black margins. The distribution of the purple and green on the small feathers is subject to some variation; but generally the entire head except the ear-coverts, the nape, upper breast and upper back, and the flanks are purple—the ear-coverts, scapulars, lower back, rump and upper tail-coverts, the lower breast, and belly being green; but by altering the position in which the bird is held, green reflections to a limited extent may often be seen on the purple feathers and purple re- flections on the green ones. Examples, however, occur, even in the British Islands, in which this distribution of colour is exactly reversed, except that the greater and median wing-coverts always show some green reflections. The wing-coverts occasionally show bluish-purple reflections, but are never iridescent bronze like those of S. purpurascens. There seems to be no reason to suppose that any of these variations in the colour of the plumage are produced by interbreeding with the latter species, as they appear to occur irrespective of geographical distribution. The Starling’s bill is lemon- yellow; legs and feet reddish brown; irides hazel. After the autumn moult, the bird presents quite a different appearance. All the metallic colours of the plumage are half concealed, in consequence of each feather of the upper parts having a buff tip and those of the underparts a white tip, whilst the wing and tail-feathers have buff margins; the bill has changed to dark brown. As the spring approaches, these margins are almost entirely cast from the head of the male, and usually completely so from the underparts. The female somewhat closely resembles the male ; but the tints are usually not so purple, the spots are much larger and do not abrade so much, and the long hackle-like feathers on the throat are less developed. In the female the bill is yellow, tipped with blackish brown. VOL. II. c 18 BRITISH BIRDS. The young differ still more in appearance from their parents-—so much so that they have been erroneously described as a distinct species under the name of Turdus solitarius. They have the general colour greyish brown, much paler on the margins of the feathers of the throat and belly ; the quill- and tail-feathers have ight brown margins. This brown plumage is changed during the first autumn for the showy dress of the parents ; and in the moult, when the feathers are in process of being changed, these young birds present a very singular piebald appearance. PASTOR. 19 Genus PASTOR. The Rose-coloured Starling was included by Linneus and Brisson in the genus Turdus. Scopoli removed it into the genus Sturnus; but in 1815 Temminck somewhat unnecessarily placed it in a separate genus. In the first edition of his ‘ Manuel d’Ornithologie,’ p. 83, he invented the genus Pastor, where the Rose-coloured Starling reigns supreme as the typical and only species. The characters which distinguish this genus from Sturnus are of the most frivolous kind: the upper mandible is not quite as straight, the nostrils are rather more concealed by feathers, and the head is furnished with a crest. In its habits, food, and nidification the Rose-coloured Starling differs very little from the so-called true Starlings. The Rose-coloured Starling is confined to the southern portions of the South Palearctic Region during the breeding-season ; but in winter wanders into the Oriental Region. 20 "BRITISH BIRDS. PASTOR ROSEUS. ROSE-COLOURED STARLING. (Puate 11.) Turdus merula rosea, Briss. Orn. ii. p. 250 (1760). Turdus roseus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 294 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum— (Scopoli), Latham, Gmelin, (Bonaparte), (Temminck), (Degland § Gerbe) (Salvadori), (Newton), (Dresser), &e. Sturnus roseus (Linn.), Scop. Ann. I. Hist. Nat. p. 180 (1769). Turdus seleucis, Forskal, Descr. Animal. p. vi. no. 16 (1775). Sturnus asiaticus, Wirsing fide Lath. Ind. Orn, i, p. 844 (1790). Pastor roseus (Linn.), Temm. Man. d’ Orn, p. 83 (1815). Psaroides roseus (Linn.), Vierll. Analyse, p. 42 (1816). Merula rosea (Linn.), Koch, Syst. baier. Zool. p. 242 (1816). Acridotheres roseus (Linn.), Ranz. Elementi di Zoolog. iii. pt. v. p. 177 (1828). Gracula rosea (Linn.), Cuv. Regne Anim. i. p. 378 (1829). Pastor peguanus, Less. Bélanger’s Voy. Ind. Orient., Zool, p. 268 (1834). Pecuarius roseus (Linn.), Temm. Man. @’ Orn, iii. p. 76 (1835). Thremmaphilus roseus (Linn.), Macgill. Brit. B. i. p. 613 (1837). Nomadites roseus (Linn.), Petenis fide Bonap. Cat. Met. Uc, Eur. p. 44 (1842). Although this handsome bird has been often shot in our islands, it can only be looked upon as an accidental visitor of frequent occurrence. The Rose-coloured Starlings which reach our shores are principally birds of the year on their first autumn migration, who have lost their way, and have wandered into Western Europe instead of migrating eastwards into India. Willughby and Ray were apparently unacquainted with the occa- _ sional visits of this bird to our islands, and copy the account given of — it by Aldrovandus. ‘The first British-killed example of which we have any record was the one described by Edwards in 1743, which was killed at Norwood, uear London, and was figured in his ‘ Natural History’ (i. p. 20, pl. xx.).. He quaintly tells us that ““we may see this bird very perfect, curiously stuffed and set on a perch at Salter’s coffee-house in Chelsea.” It is unnecessary to enumerate the many examples that have since wan- . dered to our shores. It has occurred in almost every county of England, principally in those bordering the east coast ; but examples have repeatedly been obtained in the extreme west, in Wales, in Cornwall, and the Scilly Isles. In Scotland, although it has not yet been noticed in the outer islands, it appears to have occurred in almost every county from Wigtown- shire to Sutherland in the west, and from the Orkneys and Shetland to Berwickshire in the east. In Ireland the bird, although quite as un- certain in its appearance as in England, has nevertheless been met with in most parts of the country, even in the extreme western districts. Muller ROSE-COLOURED STARLING. 21 states that it has twice been killed on the Faroes; but its occurrence in Iceland has not yet been noticed. Like the Waxwing, the Rose-coloured Starling is preeminently gre- garious in the breeding-season; and, like that bird, it seems to vary its nesting-locality according to the abundance of food, generally selecting some district where locusts and grasshoppers abound. It breeds more or less regularly in Asia Minor and on the western shores of the Black Sea. The most westerly recorded instance of its breeding in large numbers is in Lombardy. At Villafranca, near Verona, in 1875 great numbers bred in the castle, having followed in the wake of a flight of locusts. They have not been known to breed in Palestine; but Tristram describes enormous numbers passing through on their spring migration. Eastwards they breed in South Russia and the Caucasus, Turkestan, and South Siberia, as far east as Lake Saisan. They have also been observed in North-west Persia and Afghanistan in spring. They winter in India in enormous numbers, and are occasionally found as far south as Ceylon. The most easterly locality recorded of this bird is the Andaman Islands, where flocks were seen by Col. Tytler in January (‘ Ibis,’ 1867, p. 331). At this season of the year, and on the spring and autumn migrations, they have occurred in almost every country of Hurope, from Spain in the west to Sweden in the north, and have been known to stray as far south as North Africa, one or two examples having been recorded from Egypt and Algeria. The Rose-coloured Starling, like the Black-headed Bunting, is one of the few birds which migrate east in autumn. The natural inference to be drawn from this fact is that when its habits of migration were formed it was exclusively an Asiatic species, which has gradually extended its breeding-range westward in comparatively modern, that is in post-glacial, times. Amongst Arctic birds, the Petchora Pipit (Anthus gustavi) and the Arctic Willow-Wren (Phylloscopus borealis) migrate in the same direction, probably from similar causes. The Rose-coloured Starlings are very late breeders. They seldom arrive at their breeding-quarters before the end of May, and do not begin to breed until the middle of June. They migrate in enormous flocks. During his last visit to Palestine Canon Tristram had the good fortune to cross the line of migration of these interesting birds. His party were travelling in a north-easterly direction across the plains of Syria, in the valley of the Orontes ; and for three days, during the last week in May, flock after flock of Rose-coloured Starlings passed them, flying due west. They chattered incessantly as they flew; and sometimes the noise of the myriads of voices, as the flock passed over, was quite deafening. They fly in dense clouds like Starlings, and Canon Tristram describes them as forming into a balloon before alighting. The party had just crossed some acres of young locusts, which “ rose at every 22 BRITISH BIRDS. step of their horses, like sand-lice on the sea-shore from a piece of seaweed left by the tide.” After they had passed they saw “a great globe in the air, which suddenly turned, expanded, and, like a vast fan, descended to the ground,” which was in a few seconds covered with a moving black mass, dappled with pink. After watching them for some minutes, the party turned back and rode up to them. They rose quietly, but not till they were close on them. So eager had the birds been in search of their prey that not a locust was to be seen. At another place the party came suddenly, after mounting a gentle ascent, on the crater of an extinct voleano, full of water, and surrounded with basalt boulders. As they approached, their attention was attracted by one of these flights of Rose- coloured Starlings, which had alighted to drink, and which rose in alarm and darkened the air overhead. At another place a solitary tree over a well was so covered with them that the colour of the tree changed from black to green as they approached and frightened the birds away. The natives all declared the visits of these birds to be most uncertain and occa- sional, and said that they had not met with them for three years. They only see them on the spring migration, when their flight is always from east to west. Canon Tristram adds that they were all apparently in full breeding-plumage. The mystery which for some time shrouded the breeding of the Rose- coloured Starling has been at length completely dispelled. The old stories of their breeding in hollow trees, and the modern Greek or Bulgar fables of their boring holes in banks like Sand-Martins, are entirely unsupported by evidence. The Rose-coloured Starling is essentially a Rock-Starling in its breeding-habits. When I was in the Dobrudscha in the spring of 1883, I visited a village about three miles north of Kustendji, where these birds had bred in great numbers the preceding year. They had occupied a pile of rough building-stone, most of which was, unfortu- nately, removed during the following winter. A small heap near a cottage still remained, and I was informed by the peasant who lived there that it had been full of nests. After removing a few stones from the top I soon came upon the old nests. They were more carefully made than those of the Starling, and might easily have been mistaken for nests of the Ring- Ouzel; they were chiefly composed of dry grass, but in several of them a few feathers were interwoven. Mr. Barkley, in his ‘ Bulgaria before the War,’ describes two similar breeding-places between Rustchuk and Varna, where thousands took possession of a mound of broken stone and rock thrown out of a cutting on the railway. In several parts of the Dobrudscha I met German emigrants from Bessarabia who told me that the Rose-coloured Starling not unfrequently bred in thousands in the peasants’ gardens, which are surrounded by rough stone walls, in the holes of which the nests are made. These birds also often breed between ROSE-COLOURED STARLING. 23 Tchernavoda and Kustendji; but I had the misfortune to drop upon a blank year. The railway from Tchernavoda to Medjidi is across a series of swamps full of reeds some twelve feet high. Ducks and Geese come down here to feed, and the Great Reed-Warbler and the Bearded Tit make the reeds their home. Now and then a Purple Heron, a Stork, or a Demoiselle Crane gets up, and Marsh-Harriers range over the swamp. On the out- skirts of the reed-bed luxurious grass grows, leading up to perpendicular cliffs from 50 to 100 feet high. Some of these are white chalk, and some consist of a buff calcareous conglomerate ; but most of the cliffs are sandy earth, full of Bee-eaters’ holes. The valley is about a mile wide, and has evidently within a comparatively recent date, geologically speaking, been the main mouth of the Danube. The lakes north and south of Kustendji are as evidently the silted-up mouths of the various arms of the river which formed the ancient delta of the Danube, which was probably destroyed by the drifting sand driven by the east winds from the shores of the Black Sea. Where the cliffs are rock the action of the water, and possibly of the ice, has hollowed them into caverns and ledges and _ holes, usually tenanted by Jackdaws, Starlings, Tree-Sparrows, and Rollers, and every two or three years by Rose-coloured Starlings. In driving across the steppes between the Danube and the Black Sea we now and then came upon small flocks of these birds. At a distance they are indistinguishable from Common Starlings; they run along the ground in’the same way, they have the same rapid straight flight, and the same habit of clustering together. On the ground they feed with the same eager anxiety, but frequently perch on the stunted bushes, when their pink colour is very conspicuous. ‘The notes of this bird are almost exactly the same as those of the Starling, they chatter together in the same way ; and in confinement the low warble mixed with the chatter is very similar in both species. In most places where this bird breeds it is protected on account of the enormous number of locusts it devours. In autumn it takes its toll on the fruit (mulberries, cherries, &c.) ; but its usefulness in spring is so apparent, that the Greeks and Turks do not begrudge it so small a trifle. In Asia Minor, as in the Dobrudscha, I had the misfortune to arrive the day after the fair. Dr. Kriiper and I were informed by our friend Guido von Gonzenbach that the Rose-coloured Starlings had bred in the previous spring (1871) in enormous numbers in the neighbourhood of Smyrna, and had devoured the grubs and locusts to the admiration of the peasantry. They fixed upon some village unknown as a central breeding-place, and more than 200 of their eggs were brought in to Mr. Gonzenbach ; but all his information being Greek, he was unable to find the locality. After many inquiries we succeeded in discovering it amongst the hills. It appeared to be deserted, not a soul could we find ; everybody was down in the valley harvesting. At last we met an old man travelling with a mule, 24: BRITISH BIRDS. buying up fleeces of sheep from the peasants. He told us that he had travelled all the country round, and could assure us that there was not a bird to be found of the kind we sought. He told us that last year the birds swarmed in thousands in the valley below, and had built nests like Blackbirds’ in the clefts of the rocks and on the stony ground on the steep hill-sides. That year (1872) he said that they had arrived in great numbers, but at the expiration of a week had suddenly disappeared. A very inter- esting account of the breeding of these birds in the same district sixteen years previously is to be found in the ‘Zoologist’ for 1857, p. 5668, translated from an article in ‘Naumannia’ by the Marquis O. Antinori. He and Mr. Gonzenbach did not discover the locality until the young had left the nests. The birds arrived during the last week of May, and fresh eggs must have been laid about the 10th of June; but by the end of that month the young had left the nest, and by the middle of July both old and young had left the locality. The breeding-place was a rocky mountain-side, and long before it was reached they noticed that every rock .and stone was covered with the white droppings of the birds. The nests were in thousands, some quite open and uncovered, others so concealed amongst the blocks of stone that it was necessary to turn the rocks over to find them. Some were more than a foot below the surface, and others beyond arm’s length. The nests were often so close together as to touch one another ; they were carelessly made of dry stalks and leaves, occa- sionally lined with fine grass. Many eggs were laid on the bare ground. The great number of birds naturally attracted many enemies; and the remains of birds were lying about in all directions which had fallen a prey to jackals, martens, wild cats, rats, &c. In these ravines the oleander is very common ; and a small flock of Rose-coloured Starlings often suddenly becomes invisible as it drops on one of these shrubs, the pink backs and breasts of the Starlmgs being scarcely distinguishable from the pink flowers of the oleander. During the breeding-season the females of the Rose-coloured Starling sit very close and are assiduously fed by the males ; and during the short time that the young are in the nest they are most carefully tended by both parents. They are said to take pleasure in killing locusts even when their appetites are satisfied. In the ‘ Zoologist’ for 1878, p. 16, is a most interesting account of the visit of these birds in 1875 to Villafranca, translated from the Italian of Edoardo de Betta. About four o’clock in the afternoon of the 8rd of June about a score Rose-coloured Starlings arrived at the castle, and were followed in about half an hour by a much larger flock of perhaps a hundred birds. ‘Towards evening some thousands arrived, and at dusk dispersed in flocks over the country. The next day the numbers increased to about fourteen thousand ; and they soon ejected the Common Starlings, Swallows, Sparrows, and Pigeons from the holes in the battlements of the ROSE-COLOURED STARLING. 25 castle. The following day these holes were cleaned out, and nest-building began on the 5th. It was not until the 17th that it was ascertained for certain that eggs had been laid ; but by the 14th of July the young were seen migrating with their parents, and soon afterwards the birds had all disappeared. The nests were described as roughly composed of small sticks, little branches, straws, hay, grasses, and other dry herbs disposed in a shapeless mass, with a limited hollow space in the middle to contain the eggs, and irregularly lmed with herbaceous fibres, leaves, mosses, and feathers. ‘The males went out to feed in small parties, returning together, The Rose-coloured Starling arrives in India early in August, and appears in some districts in such numbers as to be injurious to the crops of white “ Jowaree,’ and before it leaves in spring it feeds on the fruit of the mul- berry. During the cold season it eats insects of various kinds, the seeds of grasses and plants, and any kind of fruit it can obtain. The eggs of this bird vary from five to seven in number, and are so pale a grey in colour as to be scarcely distinguishable from white; they are very fine-grained, smooth, and glossy, and vary in length from 1°15 to 1:07 inch, and in breadth from ‘83 to ‘8 inch. The male Rose-coloured Starling is a very conspicuous bird, with the head, neck and breast, wings and wing-coverts, axillaries, tail, upper and under tail-coverts, and thighs glossy black, the head, neck, and breast with purple reflections, and the wings and tail with green reflections, the rest of the upper and underparts being a delicate rose or salmon-colour. Beak rose-coloured, dark at the base; legs, feet, and claws dull brown ; irides rich brown. The female is everywhere dullerin colour. This bird only moults once in the year, in autumn, when almost every feather is margined with pale brown, so that the whole bird looks brown, with black wings and tail. The breeding-plumage is assumed by casting the brown margins of the feathers. Young in first plumage are very similar to adults in autumn, but have paler wings and tail, and are without the concealed black or rose-coloured bases to the feathers ; they are very similar to the young of the Common Starling, but are much paler in colour. The adult plumage is assumed in the first September by a moult. Three species belonging to the subfamily Icterine have been known to visit this country. This subfamily is intermediate between the Sturninze and the Fringillinz, and is strictly confined to the American continent. Of the first of these, the Red-winged Starling or Red-winged Oriole ( Ageleus pheniceus), nearly a dozen examples have occurred in the British Islands; but as it is a very common cage-bird, it is probable that most of them had escaped from confinement. This species appears to be found throughout North America as far north as the Great Slave Lake. In the south it is a resident, but in the north it is a migratory bird, and it is 26 BRITISH BIRDS. possible that occasional examples may have gone astray on migration and wandered as far as Europe. In winter they are gregarious, but in spring they pair and separate for breeding-purposes. The nest is usnally placed on low bushes, but occasionally in high trees and sometimes on the ground. It is pensile, the framework, usually made of rushes and the strong leaves of the iris, being carefully and strongly interwoven with the adjacent twigs. The inner nest is composed of grass and sedges. The number of eggs is said to be five, varying considerably in size from 1-08 to “9 inch in length, and from *82 to “65 inch in breadth. The ground-colour varies from greyish white to pale greenish blue, sparingly but generally very boldly blotched and streaked, principally at the large end, with very dark brown; the underlying spots are very indistinct (Plate 11). In summer these birds feed principally on insects, but in autumn they commit great havoe amongst the grain-crops. Wilson describes their notes as “ not remarkably various, but very peculiar; the most common one resembles the syllables conk-quer-ree, others the shrill sounds produced by filing a saw, some are more guttural, and others remarkably clear. The usual note of both male and female is a single chuck.” 'The male Red-winged Oriole is black, with crimson shoulders and lesser wing-coverts ; the female is brown, streaked on the upper parts with buff and on the lower parts with white. Of the second species, the Rusty Grakle (Scolecophagus ferrugineus), a single example was obtained near Cardiff on the 4th of October 1881 (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1881, p. 968). This species breeds in the arctic regions of America up to the limit of forest-growth. It passes through the Northern States on spring and autumn migration, where a few remain to breed, and winters in the Southern States. In its habits, food, and mode of constructing its nest it is said to resemble very closely the Red- winged Oriole. The eggs are light bluish green in ground-colour, spotted and blotched with purplish brown of various shades, and very rarely streaked with rich brown (Plate 11) ; they measure from 1:02 to °98 inch in length, and from ‘82 to *75 inch in breadth. The notes of this bird are said to be musical and more melodious than those of the allied species. The male Rusty Grakle has the general colour black, with green and purple reflections. After the autumn moult the broad brown margins to the feathers give the bird a very dingy appearance. The female is blackish grey, the wings and tail sometimes having a greenish tinge. Of the third species, the American Meadow-Starling (Sturnella magna), one was seen in Norfolk in October 1854, and another was shot in Suffolk in March 1860, whilst a third was obtained near Cheltenham. It is common in the Eastern States of North America, being migratory in the north and more or less gregarious in winter. In the west it is represented by a nearly allied form, which is only subspecifically distinct, S. magna, var. ROSE-COLOURED STARLING. Q7 neglecta. It frequents pasture-lands, being very rarely found in woods. It is celebrated for the sweetness of its song. The nest is domed, and always built on the ground. This bird lays four or five eggs, white in ground-colour, spotted all over, but principally at the large end, with conspicuous reddish-brown blotches ; the underlying spots are generally somewhat indistinct, but occasionally they form an important feature in the egg and are slate-grey (Plate 11). They vary in length from 1°2 to °95 inch, and in breadth from ‘9 to ‘68inch. It is said to feed both on insects and seeds. The male Meadow-Starling is pale brown, spotted and barred with dark brown and reddish brown; the lores, the breast, and belly are yellow, with a conspicuous black crescent below the throat. The female is slightly duller in colour. 28 BRITISH BIRDS. Subfamily FRINGILLIN&, or FINCHES. The Finches form a large group of birds, which may at once be distin- euished from all the other subfamilies of the Passeride by their combina- tion of a stout conical bill with the entire absence of a first primary. The wings are long and pointed, the second, third, and fourth primaries being nearly equal in length. The tarsus is short and scutellated in front, but not at the back. The Finches only moult once in the year, in autumn. The spring plumage, where it differs from that of autumn, is attained by casting the ends of the feathers and the small, so to speak, pmnules of the leaflets or pinnz, and sometimes by a simultaneous increase of brilliancy im the colour of the feather itself. The plumage of the young is more spotted and streaked than that of adults, but is moulted in the first autumn. The Fringilline are almost cosmopolitan, beg found throughout the world except in the Australian Region, where they are represented by the Weaver-birds (Ploceine), which are also found throughout the tropical regions of the Old World. There are upwards of 500 species of Finches, which have been divided by ornithologists into upwards of seventy genera. The characters of most of these are, however, of such a trivial nature that to retain many of them, even as a matter of courtesy to their founders, would only bring the science of ornithology into contempt. In the present neglected state of this group of birds it is impossible to form any key to the genera. Sixty species of Finches are found in Europe, of which half are included in the British list. Genus LOXIA. The genus Lovia is recognized by Linnzus in the twelfth edition of his ‘Systema Nature,’ i. p. 299, and consequently dates from 1766. The Common Crossbill (L. eurvirostra) has by common consent been accepted as the type. It is the Lowia loxia of Brisson, and the first species named by Linneeus, though the Hawfinch, the Grosbeak, the Bullfinch, and other more distantly allied birds are included in the same genus. LOXIA. 29 The chief characteristic in the present group of birds is their parrot-like ‘bill, the upper mandible being curved to such an extent that it overlaps the under mandible at the point, in some species crossing its point. An almost equally important character is the change which takes place in the colour of the plumage from the young to the adult, beginning with green and passing through yellow into red. This genus probably contains only four well-defined species, several of which are, however, subject to considerable local variation. The range of this genus is principally confined to the Paleearctic and Nearctic Regions, extending in the former to the Himalayas and in the latter to the Mexican plateaux. The Crossbills frequent fir-, pine-, and larch-forests during the breeding- season ; but at other times of the year they frequently haunt gardens, orchards, deciduous woods, and small plantations and shrubberies. After the breeding-season they are more or less gregarious and often associate with other birds. Their song is low and somewhat sweet, and their call- notes are harsh, but sometimes more musical. They breed very early, often before the snow is melted. Their nests are open and cup-shaped, made of twigs, moss, rootlets, wool, &c., and placed at various heights in conifer trees. Their eggs are five or six in number, white or bluish white in ground-colour, spotted and blotched with reddish brown of different shades. Their food consists of seeds, fruits, berries, and insects of different kinds. 30 BRITISH BIRDS. LOXIA CURVIROSTRA ann LOXIA PITYOPSITTACUS. COMMON CROSSBILL and PARROT CROSSBILL. (Puate 13.) English ornithologists, having voluntarily cramped their ideas by putting on the straight jacket of a binomial nomenclature, have for the most part treated the Common and Parrot Crossbills as distinct species. The facts of nature do not warrant such a conclusion in the least. A large series of examples from Europe, Siberia, China, Canada, and Mexico show some differences in size, especially in the bill, which varies almost as much as that of the Lesser Redpole or the Reed-Bunting. Crossbills from the pine-forests of Europe have the largest bills ; those from Mexico have nearly as large bills, but the upper mandible is slightly weaker. Ex- amples from the larch- and spruce-forests of Europe and Asia have both mandibles weaker; whilst those from Canada have still smaller bills, and approach very near to the Himalayan Crossbill in this respect. The length of wing varies much less, being as under :— Length of wing. Height of bill. L. pityopsittacus . . 4°3 to 4:0 inches. ‘6 to ‘5 mech. emecwcana . a 2 Al ew 5; (DD ay) mes L. curvirositra. . . 39 ,, 37 ,, ess ee lene L. americana. . . 35 ,,33 _,, SOG (8 yas L. himalayana . . 3'1,,30 ,, 500) By (Ors It is probable that in a sufficiently large series the measurements of each of these supposed species would be found to overlap that next to it, and that all these forms are conspecific and nothing but local races. It is not known that they differ in colour or in any other respect except in size, thickness of bill, and choice of food. The two last- named peculiarities are probably cause and effect. In ‘ Naumannia’ for 1853, p. 78, is a plate of twenty bills of Crossbills to illustrate a paper by Brehm, who attempts to discriminate between six species of Parrot Crossbill and eight or more species of Common Crossbill. Scotch examples are intermediate between the Parrot and Common Crossbills of the continent; they probably feed on both kinds of cones. The fact that the tropical form of the Old World is a small weak-billed race, whilst that of the New World is larger and stronger-billed than its northern representative, is probably also merely a question of food. The synonymy of the two forms which are found in our islands is as follows :— COMMON CROSSBILL AND PARROT CROSSBILL. dl LOXIA CURVIROSTRA. ComMMOoN CROSSBILL. Loxia loxia, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 829 (1760). Loxia curvirostra, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 299 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum— Gmelin, Scopoli, Latham, Bonaparte, Schlegel, Degland § Gerbe, Temminck, Newton, Dresser, Sc. Crucirostra europea, Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. Sc. Brit. Mus. p. 12 (1816). Crucirostra abietina, Meyer, Vig. Liv- u. Esthl. p. 72 (1815). Loxia europea (Leach), Macgill. Hist. Brit. B. i. p. 417 (1837). Crucirostra curvirostra (Linn.), var. balearica, Homeyer, Journ. Orn. 1862, p. 256. Crucirostra balearica (Homeyer), Homeyer, Journ. Orn. 1864, p. 224. Loxia balearica (Homeyer), Newton, Zool. Record, 1864, p. 84. Loxia albiventris, Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1870, p. 437. LOXIA CURVIROSTRA, var. PITYOPSITTACUS. PaRRoT CROSSBILL. Loxia curvirostra, var. y, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 843 (1788). Loxia pityopsittacus, Bechst. Orn. Taschenb. p. 106 (1802); et auctorum pluri- morum—Temminck, Bonaparte, Salvadori, Degland § Gerbe, Dresser, Newton, &e. Crucirostra pinetorum, Meyer, Vog. Liv- u. Esthl. p. 71 (1815). Crucirostra pityopsittacus (Bechst.), Brehm, Vog. Deutsch. p. 241 (1831). The Common Crossbill is a somewhat rare and local resident in our islands, but is best known as an irregular winter visitor, often appearing in large flocks ; and at this season of the year 1t has either been obtained or seen in every county. In Scotland it is a resident in some districts, and, according to Mr. Gray, breeds most numerously in the central counties. It is also well known as a winter visitor, often appearing in immense flocks, although it is not known to have visited any of the outer islands. In Orkney it is less regular in its appearance; but in the Shetlands, especially of late years, it has been frequently seen in large numbers, and was said by Saxby to have visited the islands every year between May and December during his residence at Unst. Of its breeding in England much has been recorded; and nests have so fre- quently been discovered in various parts of the country, that it is needless to enter into a detailed account of them. It has been known to breed in Devonshire, Somerset, Hants, Sussex, Kent, Surrey, Essex, Herts, Bed- ford, Norfolk, Suffolk, Gloucester, Yorkshire, Durham, Northumberland, and Cumberland. In Ireland, according to Thompson, the bird has long been known as an occasional visitor in late autumn or winter, leaving again early in the spring. He also states that it has bred there. The Parrot Crossbill was first noticed as a British bird by Pennant in Sone BRITISH BIRDS. 1766, in his ‘ British Zoology’ (p. 106). He received a male and female “out of Shropshire.” Upwards of a score examples of this bird have since Pennant’s day been taken in our islands. Most of these specimens have been captured in England, a few in Scotland, and one in Wales. The typical form of the Crossbill breeds in most of the pime-forests of the Palearctic Region, in Norway occasionally ranging north of the Arctic circle, but in North Russia not ranging above lat. 64°, and in Asia probably not above lat. 62°. It breeds in the Pyrenees, the Alps, and the Carpathians, and probably also in the Urals; but it has not been recorded from the Caucasus. It is said to be a resident in the Balearic Islands, and in the Atlas Mountains m Algeria. It has not been recorded from Persia or Turkestan, nor did Finsch or Tancré’s coHector find it in the Altai Mountains. It certainly breeds in Kamtschatka, and probably also in other pine-regions in Eastern Siberia. In winter it is a very irregular migrant to most parts of Europe, having been obtained in Denmark, Holland, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, and Greece; but Sharpe and Dresser’s statement, which Newton * appears to have copied, that Dr. Kriiper found its nest in the Parnassus, is probably based on a mis- translation. Eastwards it winters in South Siberia, North China, and Japan, in which islands it is said to be very abundant; but ornithologists have omitted to say at what season of the year. The large form of the Common Crossbill, generally known as the Parrot Crossbill, breeds principally in Scandinavia, the Baltic provinces, and North Germany. It does not appear to wander far in winter; but at this season it occasionally visits Denmark, Holland, France, Southern Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. The Crossbill is one of the few migratory birds which do not wander further from home in winter than the inclemency of the season or the scarcity of food compels them. They have consequently been called gipsy migrants—irregular visitors who may be very common one year and very rare the next, sometimes coming early, sometimes late, and sometimes not at all. They are preeminently gregarious birds. In winter they wander about in large flocks ; and even in the breeding-season small parties of males may be seen seeking food in company. They are very early breeders; and fresh eggs are usually found in February and March. Eggs have been taken in April and May; but these are probably laid by birds whose first nests have been destroyed by their numerous enemies or by heavy falls of snow, and are not second broods, as some ornithologists have supposed. If these birds are successful in rearing a brood, the family-party appear at once to commence their gipsy life. If * Professor Newton appears also to have copied Sharpe and Dresser’s assertion that Swinhoe found the Crossbill on the island of Formosa, a statement for which I am unable to find any authority. COMMON CROSSBILL AND PARROT CROSSBILL. 33 they meet a similar family-party they appear to fraternize at once, and form the nucleus of a flock, which is sometimes seen far from home as early as June, wandering in search of food. It is a very pretty sight to see these flocks feeding upon the berries of the mountain-ash, or stripping the larch or spruce trees of their cones. In winter they are exceedingly tame, and will allow the observer to approach very near and watch them without showing any signs of alarm. They are very active, and when busily engaged in feeding place themselves in all sorts of positions, like a Tit or a Willow-Wren. They pass from tree to tree with strong but undulating flight, continually calling to each other. In late winter or early spring the males have a low warbling song, which reminds one somewhat of that of the Starling. The female is said also to sing nearly as well as the male. The note is short and clear, aloud shrill ¢tstp, tsip, tsip, far louder than the similar notes of the Chaffinches and Linnets by which it is surrounded ; it is subject to slight modulations, occasionally sounding almost like. ¢sup, and sometimes like ¢sop. This note is principally uttered when the birds are on the wing, and is apparently the common call-note by which the flock is kept together. The call-note of the male to the female is quite as loud, but more prolonged; it may be represented by the word ftso, occasionally modified almost to ¢sow on the one hand and to ¢soo on the other. I hav: generally heard this note when the bird was sitting alone on or near the top of a pine tree. The valleys of the Upper Engadine are an excellent locality in which to watch the habits of the Crossbill; they lie about six thousand feet above the level of the sea, and are hemmed in by mountains which rise to twice that height. Whenever the ground is smooth enough it is used as meadow, and where it is rocky it is covered up to the mouth of the glaciers with larch trees intermixed with a few spruce-firs and Siberian cedars (Pinus cembra). It is impossible to walk through the forest from Pontresina to St. Moritz, even in August and September (a time of the year when birds are most skulking in their habits and almost silent), without seeing many birds specially interesting to the British ornithologist. At first, perhaps, the forest may look empty, not a bird to be seen or heard ; for at this season forest-birds are not only gre- garious but social, and you may perhaps have to walk a mile before you meet with the flock. Then all at once you hear the call-notes of Titmice and distinguish the Crested Tit and the continental variety of the Marsh- Tit. Amongst them may be a few Chaflinches and Mealy Redpoles, and almost certainly a pair of Nuthatches and Creepers. The main flock will consist of Thrushes, principally Missel-Thrushes, feeding on the bilberries and other ground-fruit, and rising one by one from the ground as you disturb them. Then you may come across a small party of Nutcrackers, which are not nearly so shy as the Thrushes, and may be seen both in the VOL. II. D 34 BRITISH BIRDS. trees, on the rocks, and on the ground. At last the loud ¢sip of the Cross- bills is heard, and a small compact party of perhaps a dozen birds, con- spicuous amongst the Thrushes by their smaller size and shorter tails, pass by, and you may remark the brick-red of the rumps of many of them, which glisten in the sun as they fy away. However tame the Crossbills may be in our country in winter (and I have approached them within a few feet and watched them feeding undisturbed), in the Engadine in their summer-quarters they are wild enough. They associate with the Thrushes as Starlings do with Rooks, in a flock within a flock, and like them cover square yards of ground, whilst their companions spread over acres. Some- times I saw an isolated male or two flying over the trees with rapid steady flight, but broken by continual short pauses, giving it an undulatory character. I found them extremely shy; and although I could slowly follow a flock of Thrushes for a mile, I never came again upon a flock of Crossbills when I had once put them up. I only once observed them on the ground; and this was in an open space in the forest abounding with ripe bilberries, upon which they probably had been feeding. The bill of the Crossbill has become specially adapted for extracting the seeds from the cones of the larch and various species of pine. The strongest- billed birds, to which the name of Parrot Crossbill has been applied, form a local race which live in the pine-forests and feed principally on the cones of the Scotch fir (Pinus sylvestris). The more slender-billed birds choose localities where spruce-fir and larch cones are obtainable ; they range further north durmg the breeding-season than their thicker-billed cousins—not because they are able to withstand a greater degree of cold but because the trees whose fruit form their favourite food are found further north. In the valley of the Yenesay the larch and spruce range to lat. 69°, whilst the Scotch fir only grows as far north as lat. 624°. The Crossbill breaks off the cone with his beak and flies with it to a thick bough. The cone is held firmly against the bough with one claw, exactly as a Raptorial bird holds its prey, and the cone is torn to pieces and the seed extracted with the bill, the outside covering or shell being removed and the kernel only eaten. The Crossbill also feeds on many other seeds, and is very fond of apples. Meves found them feeding in South Sweden on the caterpillar and chrysalis of a small green moth (Yortrix viridana) which is very destructive to oak trees, and it is said that the Crossbill generally feeds its young upon insects. The nest is generally placed in a pine tree of some kind, occasionally not more than five feet from the ground, but more often at a much greater elevation. ‘The favourite position seems to be almost at the top of the tree in the cup formed by the forking of the branches ; but it is not un- frequently built on a horizontal branch at some distance from the trunk. It is formed on the same model as the nest of the Bullfinch, an outside COMMON CROSSBILL AND PARROT CROSSBILL 35 nest of sticks, and an inside nest of soft material, the latter rising some- what higher than the former. - The outside nest is made of twigs of Scotch fir, about 3, of an inch thick, somewhat loosely interlaced together, and has an inside diameter of four inches, and an outside diameter of six ches or more. The inside nest is composed of dry grass and hair-lichen, with occasionally a little moss or wool or a few feathers in the lining ; the cup has a diameter of 23 inches, and is about 1g inch deep. The usual number of eggs is four, but five are sometimes found ; they vary in length from ‘95 to ‘85 inch, and in breadth from ‘7 to ‘65*. Eggs of the Parrot Crossbill do not differ in size from those of the Common Crossbill. The ground-colour of the eggs varies from pale greenish blue to almost white. The overlying spots are dark brown, principally at the large end, most of them very small, but some as large as No. 10 shot, and many elongated into streaks; the underlying spots are pale reddish brown, but do not differ in size, shape, or distribution from the overlying spots. The female sits very close, and is fed on the nest by the male. In confinement these birds are very amusing, climbing about their cages, both with claws and bill, like Parrots. The general colour of the adult male Crossbill is intermediate between scarlet and crimson, somewhat shaded with brown on the back, and most brilliant on the rump. The wings, tail, longest tail-coverts, and hindmost ear-coverts are brown. ‘The centre of the belly and the under tail-coverts are pale grey, the latter with dark centres. Bull, legs, feet, and claws brown; irides dark hazel. The adult female differs from the male in having the red replaced by greenish yellow. Males of the year are inter- mediate in plumage between adult males and females ; in some examples the red feathers predominate, and in others the yellow feathers. Females of the year only differ from adult females in having much less yellow on the plumage. Young in first plumage of both sexes are plain brown, each of the small feathers having a dark centre; they moult in the first autumn into their respective plumage ‘of males and females of the year. The variation in the plumage of the Crossbill is a question upon which great difference of opinion has existed, and, strange to say, still exists amongst ornithologists who have had the best opportunities of forming a judgment on the matter. Bechstein and Hancock describe the males of the year as red, which gradually changes to yellowish green as in the adult and immature female. Wheelwright thinks that the red plumage of the male is only assumed after the second moult, but he looks upon it as an intermediate stage, though lasting through several seasons, between the mixed plumage of birds of the year and the yellow plumage of what he considers to be fully adult males. Naumann, Brehm, Wolley, Meves, * Abnormally small eggs may measure *73 by ‘57 (fide Newton), but the eggs measuring 1 inch by *75 (see Dresser) are larger than any I have ever seen. D2 36 BRITISH BIRDS. and others hold an intermediate view, which appears to me to be the correct one. It cannot, however, be denied that, in confinement, red males change to yellow after their first moult, and only differ from females in not being quite so green ; they never reassume the red plumage. Yellow males occasionally occur in a wild state, and are possibly old and barren birds. il = pH \ | he fy it Hana WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS. 37 LOXIA BIFASCIATA ann LOXIA LEUCOPTERA. EUROPEAN WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL and AMERICAN WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL. (PLatE 19.) The two White-winged Crossbills are so nearly allied that many ornitho- logists have considered them to be specifically identical. The points relied upon to distinguish them are as follows :—The birds of the Old World are said to be larger and to have a stouter bill. This is, on an average, un- doubtedly the case. European examples vary in length of wing from 3°8 to 3°4, whilst those from America only measure 3°5 to 3:2 inches. The average height of the bill in European examples is ‘4 and that of American examples ‘3 inch. The scapulars and the middle of the back of European examples are dark red with brown centres in the adult male, whilst the same feathers are nearly uniform very dark brown in American examples. European examples are said to have the tail less forked than in American birds ; but I cannot find the slightest difference in this respect. Our birds are also said to have more distinct white edges to the tail-feathers ; but, so far as my observations go, I find that newly moulted birds from both localities have equally white edges, which disappear in both forms before the next autumn. It is also stated that the red of the adult male inclines to scarlet in the European bird and to crimson in the American; but this appears to be an unreliable character, the former being probably younger or less vigorous birds. It is not known that there is any difference whatever in the notes or habits of the two forms, and it will perhaps be best to treat them as local races of a common species. The synonymy of the two races is as follows :— LOXIA BIFASCIATA, EUROPEAN WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILUL. Crucirostra bifasciata Brehm, Isis, 1827, p. 714; et auctorum plurimorum— Bonaparte, Degland § Gerbe, Taczanowsky, Newton, Dresser, &c. Crucirostra tenioptera (Giloger), Brehm, Isis, 1827, p. 716. Loxia teenioptera, Gloger, Isis, 1827, p. 419. Loxia bifasciata (Brehm), Selys-Longch. Faun. Belge, p. 76 (1842). Loxia leucoptera, Gmel, apud Middendorff, Schrenck, Radde, &c. LOXIA LEUCOPTERA. AMERICAN WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL. Loxia leucoptera, G'mel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 844 (1788); et auctorum plurimorum— Temminck, Audubon, Bonaparte § Schlegel, ( Wilson), (Baird), Gould, Newton, &c, 38 BRITISH BIRDS. Loxia falcirostra, Lath. Ind. Orn. i. p. 871 (1790). Curvirostra leucoptera (Gmel.), Wils. Am. Orn. iv. p. 48, pl. xxxi. fig. 3 (1811). Crucirostra leucoptera (Gmel.), Brehm, Isis, 1827, p. 720. The first record of the occurrence of the European White-winged Crossbill in the British Islands is that of Templeton, who, in a communi- cation to the Linnean Society, stated that a specimen had been shot at Grenville, near Belfast, on the 11th of May, 1802. Although the speci- men has apparently been lost, a coloured drawing of it is still in existence, and assisted Thompson in his identification of the species. In 1848 Mr. Rodd records, in the ‘Zoologist’ for that year (p. 142), a second specimen killed a few years previously at Larrigan, in Cornwall. In the autumn of 1845 there appears to have been a remarkable migration of European White-winged Crossbills to this country; for a female was shot out of a flock of about fifteen near Brampton, Cumberland, in November, and two or three others were killed about the same time and place (Hancock, Cat. Birds Northumb. and Durh. p. 50). They appear to have remained in this country during the winter; for in May 1846 a flock was seen at Thetford, in Norfolk, and one specimen was killed, whilst a second was obtained in the neighbourhood of Bury St. Edmunds *. Another specimen, a young bird, is recorded by Yarrell as having been shot about this time by Doubleday in his garden at Epping. A second example occurred in Ireland in 1868, and was mentioned in the ‘ Zoologist ’ for that year (p. 1876) by Mr. Blake Knox. It was obtained in county Dublin in July or August. The occurrence of this species in Scotland is very doubtful, as the “ White-winged Crossbills” which have at various times been obtained there have not been sufficiently well identified. Owing to the imperfect identification of the species, it 1s difficult to determine the exact number of specimens of the American form of the White-winged Crossbill which have found their way to our shores. As this species is said to be common throughout the year in Newfoundland, and is occasionally found in Greenland, it may reasonably be expected to visit our northern coasts. The earliest known instance of its occurrence in the British Islands is that of a female now in the Strickland collection, Cambridge, and which was obtained near Worcester in 1838 (Salvin, Cat. B. Strickl. Coll. p. 203). In 1845 Mr. E. B. Fitton exhibited, at a meeting of the Zoological Society, a second example, an adult male found by him on the shore at Exmouth on the 17th of September of that year. <A third specimen, a female, was caught in the rigging of a ship which came into * The occurrence of several examples of this species at Drinkston, in Suffolk, in 1849 (Bree, ‘ Zoologist,’ 1849, p. 2419), quoted by Harting in his ‘ Handbook of British Birds,’ p. 116, is a myth, the record probably referring to the birds mentioned above as killed in that district in 1846, WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS. 39 the port of Yarmouth, and was bought alive by Mr. G. H. Gurney in October 1872. Gray, in his ‘ Birds of the West of Scotland,’ mentions a specimen shot, in February 1841, near Jedburgh, and also the occurrence of a great number, “ twelve or fifteen years ago,” at sea, seen by Dr. Dewar “ crossing the Atlantic before a stiff westerly breeze.” Many alighted on the steamer when about 600 miles east of Newfoundland, and several were captured and brought to this country. In addition to these occurrences, Saxby, in his ‘ Birds of Shetland,’ states that he shot two Crossbills at Halligarth on the 4th of September 1859, which he refers to the American species. The European White-win ged Crossbill appears to have a somewhat more northerly breeding-range than the Common Crossbill. Henke records it as a common resident near Archangel, and it probably breeds in the Urals. Middendorff says that it is especially common in the valley of the Yenesay, and was the only Crossbill observed between lat. 63° and the Arctic circle. Dybowsky is satisfied that it breeds in the mountains near Lake Baikal; Middendorff met with it on the Pacific coast in lat. 55°, in June. In winter it wanders into South Sweden, Denmark, Poland, Ger- many, and has been recorded from Holland, Normandy, Switzerland, the Tyrol, Lombardy, and Hungary. The American White-winged Crossbill breeds across that continent from Alaska to Labrador. It has been obtained in Greenland, and occasionally winters in the northern States. It has never been found in Europe, except in the British Islands, and possibly in Heligoland. The history of the White-winged Crossbill, so far as it is known, is a repetition of that of the Common Crossbill. Like its near ally, it isa very early breeder, and collects into flocks in summer, which wander south in winter. It feeds principally on the cones of larch and spruce, but in confinement is very fond of apples. In a cage they are described as clinging to the sides and top with their feet, and as apparently enjoying to walk with their heads downwards. Both male and female sing well; their note is said to be very plaintive, and to resemble the call of the Bullfinch. Very little appears to be known respecting the nidification of this bird. A nest of the American form, obtained by Dr. A. Adams at Fredericton, New Brunswick, in 1868, is described by Messrs. Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway as “deeply saucer-shaped, and composed of a rather thin wall of fibrous pale-green lichens encased on the outside with spruce-twigs and thinly lined with coarse hairs and shreds of inner bark. Its external diameter is a little less than four inches, the rim being almost perfectly circular; the cavity is an inch and a half deep by two and a half broad. The one egg is pale blue, the large end rather thickly spattered with black and ashy lilac, is regularly or rather slightly elongate oval, the 40 BRITISH BIRDS. small end rather obtuse. It measures ‘8 inch in length by ‘56 in breadth.” A nest of the European species, obtained through Mr. Craemers at Archangel, is described by Dresser as closely resembling that of the Common Crossbill, but smaller and somewhat slighter in structure. He also remarks that the eggs are rather darker in ground-colour than those of that species, and are smaller in size, but otherwise closely resemble them. The White-winged Crossbill is specifically distinct from the Common Crossbill, though its only difference appears to consist in having the greater and median wing-coverts broadly tipped with white. The difference between the sexes is alike in both species, and the males of both appear to change colour with age in exactly the same way. - PINE-GROSBEAK. 41 LOXIA ENUCLEATOR. PINE-GROSBEAK. (Pirate 12.) Coccothraustes canadensis, Briss. Orn. iii, p. 250, pl. xii. fig. 3 (1760), Loxia enucleator, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 299 (1766) ; et auctorum plurimorum— Gmelin, (Bonaparte), (Temminck), (Degland § Gerbe), (Salvadorr), (Newton), (Dresser), &e. Loxia flamengo, Sparrm. Mus. Carls. no. 17 (1786). Pinicola rubra, Vietll, Ors. d’Am. Sept. i. p. iv (1807). Fringilla enucleator (Linn.), Meyer, Vog. Liv- u. Esthl. p. 74 (1815). Strobiliphaga enucleator (Linn.), Vieill. N. Dict. d’ Hist. Nat. ix. p. 609 (1817). Corythus enucleator (Linn.), Cuv. Regne An. i. p. 391 (1817). Pyrrhula enucleator (Zinn.), Temm. Man. d’Orn. i. p. 333 (1820). Loxia psittacea, Pall, Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat. ii. p. 5 (1826). Corythus enucleator (Linn.), Fleming, Brit. An. p. 76 (1828). Corythus angustirostris, Brehm, Vog. Deutschi. p. 247 (1831). Pinicola enucleator (Linn.), Cab. Ersch. § Grub. Encycl. 1. p. 279 (1849), Pinicola americana, Cab. fide Bonap. Consp. i. p. 528 (1850). Pinicola canadensis (Sriss.), Cab. Mus. Hein, i. p. 167 (1851). The Pine-Grosbeak is a very rare winter visitor to the British Islands, which lie beyond its usual winter range. It is one of those gipsy mi- grants which flock together in winter and lead a roving life, not going further from their breeding-grounds than the severity of the season com- pels them to wander in search of food. Their range of migration is conse- quently very irregular; and in very hard winters they cross the sea into Denmark, and occasionally wander as far as Heligoland and the shores of Britain. There is no satisfactory evidence of the occurrence of the Pine- Grosbeak in Scotland or Ireland; and of the five occurrences in England three of them, all females, were on the east coast—one near Newcastle in 1831, one near Yarmouth in 1845, and one near London at a still earlier date. In 1845 a male was shot near Rochdale, and in 1854 a second male near Exeter. Details of these captures, as well as of many other alleged occurrences of this species, may be found in the ‘Zoologist’ for 1877, p. 242. The Pine-Grosbeak is a cireumpolar bird, breeding in the forests at or near the Arctic circle. It is common in Norwegian Lapland, Archangel, and the valleys of the Petchora and the Yenesay; Dybowsky obtained it in Kamtschatka in November, and also says that it breeds in the pine-regions of the mountains near Lake Baikal. On the American continent it is found from Alaska in the west to Labrador in the east, and A2 BRITISH BIRDS. wanders into the northern States in winter. In the Old World it winters in South Scandinavia, Denmark, and South Siberia, and occasionally ~ throughout North Germany. It has also occurred at this season in Holland, France, Bohemia, and Hungary. In the Himalayas the Pine- Grosbeak is represented by a much smaller species, Loxia subhimachalus, which differs in being smaller, richer-coloured, and in having no white on the wing. The summer home of the Pine-Grosbeak is a very picturesque country. Almost all the forest districts of Siberia are hilly, and in the north as the trees become smaller they are also more thinly scattered over the ground, and the interminable extent of wood is broken by occasional flat open marshes, which become gay with flowers as soon as the snow melts. The scenery is more park-like than further south, and birds are much more plentiful and more easily seen. The Pine-Grosbeaks arrive at their breeding-grounds in small flocks in April, and continue to be gregarious until summer comes, when they disperse for the purpose of building their nests. They appear to be some- what shy and retiring birds, because they do not frequent the roads like the Bullfinches, the Snow-Buntings, and the Mealy Redpoles, who feed largely on the droppings of the horses; but this is by no means the case ; they confine themselves principally to the woods, where they are not diffi- cult to approach, even when the sportsman is obliged to hunt them in snow-shoes six feet long to support his weight on the untrodden surface. In the large pine-forests they prefer the banks of the rivers or the out- skirts of some open place, and may often escape detection from their habit of frequenting the tops of the trees. On the Arctic circle many of the trees are small, and on the hilly ground they are scattered im small clumps, or sometimes in isolated trees, the drooping boughs of the spruce-firs looking very graceful on the white snow. In places like these the Pine-Grosbeak may often be seen perched conspicuously on the top of a spruce-fir twenty or thirty feet from the ground, but looking so much like the last spike of the tree as frequently to escape notice. The first time that Harvie-Brown and I met with these birds in the valiey of the Petchora was on the 24th of May, eight days after our arrival, in lat. 655°. They had probably been there some weeks, as in the valley of the Yenesay I found them on the 23rd of April in lat. 664°, and was assured by the sailors that they had been in the forests a long time. We had no difficulty im shooting as many as we required, and once as we were lunching under the shade of a spruce-fir one or two of these fine birds came close to us. We generally saw them on or near the tops of the trees; but on one occasion we shot one from a fallen tree stump. They very rarely visit the ground ; but I once saw one hopping along like a Thrush under a fir tree. The call-note is a plaintive single note somewhat like that of our Bullfinch, but incapable of being PINE-GROSBEAK. 43 expressed on paper. The song is very melodious, not very loud or long, but flute-like. When I first heard it I took it for the song of some rare Siberian Thrush, and was quite disappointed when I shot the bird to find it only a Pine-Grosbeak. The flight is undulating and powerful. We found several nests which could only have belonged to birds of this species ; but our search for eggs was unsuccessful. The breeding-season is said to be the end of May or beginning of June. The nests are generally placed in a spruce-fir tree ten or twelve feet from the ground on a thick branch close to the main stem. The nest is made on the same model as that of the Hawfinch and Bullfinch, but of coarser materials. The outside is a framework of slender fir-twigs ; and the inside, which projects above the outside, is composed of roots, fine grass, and a lichen which grows on the branches of the trees, and might easily be mistaken for hair. The first clearly identified eggs of the Pine-Grosbeak which came to this country were those obtained by John Wolley near Muonioniska in 1855, and seven years later Wheelwright found five nests near Quickiock. The number of eggs varies from three to four; they measure from 1:07 to °97 inch in length and from ‘74 to °7 in breadth. They may be described as large handsome Bullfinch’s eggs. The ground-colour is pale greenish blue, boldly spotted, principally at the larger end, with surface-spots varying from rich brown to almost black, and with underlying spots of greyer brown. Some eggs are also profusely speckled with very small spots, and occasionally a Chaffinch-like streak is seen on the large end. On some eggs the spots are so large and numerous as to be more or less confluent. In winter the Pine-Grosbeak is much easier of approach than it is in summer, and it is said that it may even be caught by a snare fastened to the end of arod. It feeds upon the buds of various forest trees, the seeds of pine and fir cones, and the berries of various shrubs, especially those of the southernwood. The adult male Pine-Grosbeak is a very handsome bird; the general colour of the plumage is dull slate-grey, darker and browner on the wings and tail, and paler on the under tail-coverts. The wing-coverts, innermost secondaries, and upper tail-coverts have broad white margins, and every feather, except those of the belly and under tail-coverts, is fringed with rose-red. Bill dark brown; legs, feet, and claws nearly black; irides hazel. The rose-red is very brilliant after the autumn moult, but fades during winter to some extent. In spring the colour appears to intensify, although there is no change of feather. The changes of plumage of this species have been the subject of much needless controversy. A series of skins of these birds shot during the breeding-season is easily divided into three groups. Most of the feathers are grey, those of the adult males fringed with rose-red, and those of the adult females with golden yellow. Immature females scarcely differ from At BRITISH BIRDS. adults, except that fewer of the feathers have the golden-yellow fringes. The third group, which consists of the immature males, is quite distinct. In these birds the fringes are dull reddish orange, but there is a consider- able individual variation. In some the orange is very yellow, in others very red, and occasionally both colours are found on the same bird. The Pine-Grosbeak only moults once a year, in autumn, and consequently the adult plumage is not assumed until the second autumn ; but it is said that immature males have been found breeding in their first spring. The con- fusion on this question has arisen from the fact that in confinement the adult males lose the red plumage after the first moult, and remain ever afterwards in the orange or immature plumage. It is possible that very old males may reassume the immature plumage in a wild state, as cage- birds always do ; and it may also be possible that very vigorous young birds may moult from their first plumage direct into the red adult dress, or they may assume the red adult dress in their first spring by a change of colour of the feather without a moult. These possibilities are, however, by no means proved, and, even if they do occur, are probably very exceptional. CARPODACUS. 45 Genus CARPODACUS. The Rose-Finches appear to have been unknown to Brisson and Linnzus, and, after they were discovered, were placed by different writers with the Crossbills, the Hawfinches, the Bullfinches, &c., until, in 1828, Brehm established the genus Hrythrina for their reception (Isis, 1828, p. 1276). This name, however, may be rejected, on the ground that it had already been applied in 1767 by Linneeus, in his ‘Systema Nature,’ 1. p. 473, to a genus of plants. In 1829 Kaup established the genus Carpodacus, mn his ‘ Natiirliches System,’ p. 161, making C. erythrinus the type. The Rose-Finches resemble the birds in the preceding genus in the general distribution of their colour, and ought never to have been generi- cally separated from them. The name Carpodacus, however, has been so extensively applied to them that it may be retained, to avoid unnecessary change. They may be distinguished by the shape of the upper mandible, which in its profile shows an even curve meeting the point of the lower mandible, instead of a curve somewhat suddenly bent or hooked over the latter. The geographical distribution of the birds in this genus is precisely similar to that in the preceding one. They are confined to the Palzearctic and Nearctic Regions, extending in the former into the Himalayas and in the latter into the tablelands of Mexico. They number about twenty species, only four of which are found in the western portions of the Pale- arctic Region. One of these is an accidental visitor to the British Islands. In their habits the Rose-Finches do not differ much from the allied species. Their haunts are very similar to those of the birds in the pre- ceding genus ; but the birds do not appear to be so much confined to the conifer growth, and breed in cultivated districts and amongst deciduous trees. In winter, when they are more or less gregarious, their haunts are much more varied than in summer, their choice being influenced only by the presence of the food-supply. They possess considerable powers of song. Their nests are open, resembling those of their allies; and their eggs are five or six in number, blue of different shades, spotted with blackish brown. Their food consists of buds, seeds, and insects of various kinds. 46 BRITISH BIRDS. CARPODACUS ERYTHRINUS. SCARLET ROSE FINCH. (Piate 12.) Pyrrhula erythrina, Pall. N. Comm. Acad. Sct. Imp. Petrop. xiv. p. 587, tab. 23. fig. 1 (1770) ; et auctorum plurimorum—WNaumann, Temminck, (Bonaparte), (Degland § Gerbe), (Salvadori), (Dresser), (Newton), &e. Loxia rosea, Vieill. Ois. Chant. pl. lxv. (1805). Loxia erythrea, Endler § Scholtz, Schl. Nat.i. p. 17, pl. 5; ii. p. 185, pl. 77 (as09- -10). Fringilla erythrina (Pall.), Meyer, Vig. Liv- u. Esthl. p. 77 (1815). Coccothraustes rosea, Vieill, N. Dict. d’ Hist. Nat. xiii. p. 589 (1817). Linaria erythrina (Paill.), Bove, Isis, 1822, p. 554. Coceothraustes erythrina (Pall.), Bonn. et Vieill. Enc. Méth. p. 1003 (1823). Carpodacus erythrinus (Pall.), Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 161 (1829). Erythrospiza erythrina (Pall.), Bonap. Comp. List B. Eur. & N. Amer. p. 35 (1888). Heemorrhous roseus (Vietll.), Jerd. Madr. Journ. p. 36 (1840). Erythospiza rosea (Vieill.), Blyth, Journ. As. Soc. Beng. xi. p. 461 (1842). Propasser sordida, Hodgs. Gray’s Zool. Miscel. p. 84 (1844). Pyrrhulinota rosecolor, Hodgs. Gray's Zool. Miscel. p. 85 (1844). Pyrrhulinota rosea (Vieill.), Hodgs. Gray's Zool. Miscel. p. 85 (1844). Pyrrhulinota roseata, Hodgs. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1845, p. 36. The claim of the Scarlet Rose-Finch to be considered a British bird rests upon the occurrence of two examples on our shores. The first specimen was captured near Brighton, on the downs, during the last week of September 1869, and was recorded by Mr. Wonfor in the ‘ Zoologist ’ for that year (p. 1918), under a wrong name, which was afterwards cor- rected by Mr. Bond in the same periodical for 1870 (p. 1984). It was a female, and was kept alive for some time by Mr. Swaysland, of Brighton ; it afterwards came into the possession of Mr. Monk, in whose aviary it lived several years. A second example, also a female, was recorded by Mr. Bond in the ‘ Zoologist’ for 1870 (p. 2383). It was taken near Caen Wood, Hampstead, by a bird-catcher, on the 5th of October of that year, and is now in the above-named gentleman’s collection. The Scarlet Rose- Finch breeds throughout North Europe and Siberia, from the Baltic to the Pacific. The western limit of its breeding-range appears to be Finland, the Baltic provinces of Russia, and Poland*. It passes through South * The statement of Sharpe and Dresser, repeated by Newton, that Naumann found this bird breeding on the island of Sylt, is not strictly correct. Naumann saw a cock bird in full song on the 7th of June, probably just arrived, as this bird does not reach the Baltic Provinces before the second week in May, and the eggs are not laid before the first week in June. An old nest was pointed out to him as the nest of the bird, and the female and young were said to be in the neighbourhood; but it is not clear that he saw them himself. SCARLET ROSEH-FINCH. 47 Russia on migration, but breeds in Asia Minor, on the Caucasus up to 10,000 feet above the level of the sea, and on the Ural Mountains. To the north it ranges slightly beyond the Arctic circle ; and to the south it breeds throughout Turkestan, Gilgit, Cashmere, and Mongolia. Dybowsky found it in Kamtschatka ; but it has not been recorded from Japan. Great numbers pass through North China on migration, a few remaining to breed in the mountains near Pekin. Its principal winter-quarters appear to be Northern and Central India and the Burma peninsula; but it occa- sionally strays into Europe as far west as France and Italy. It appears also to be an accidental visitor to Persia and Scinde. There are several allies of this bird in Palestine, the Caucasus, Turkestan, South Siberia, the Himalayas, and North America. One of the American species (C. purpureus) approaches very near to our bird, and may prove to be only subspecifically distinct from it, but may be distinguished by the more carmine (less scarlet) tint of the plumage. The Scarlet Rose-Finch is not particularly interesting at its breeding- grounds. Such a fine-looking bird, perching so conspicuously as it does, is sure to attract attention; but I did not observe any thing in its habits to distinguish it from other Finches which was worthy of note. North of lat. 68°, when the trees began to diminish in size, it disappeared. The call-note is very similar to that of the Canary. In autumn these birds collect into flocks, and are amongst the first birds to migrate southwards before the approach of winter. The migrations of the Scarlet Rose-Finch are very interesting. It ap- pears probable that all the migrants of this species to Hurope, from the Baltic to the Ural Mountains, winter in India. This fact alone suggests the theory that it is only a recent emigrant to our continent; and even within ornithologically historic times it is said to have become common in Finland and the Baltic Provinces. Another fact which supports this theory may be found in the dates of its migrations. ‘Taczanowsky says that in Warsaw this bird does not arrive before the middle of May; and this is confirmed by Russow, who says that in the Baltic Provinces it is one of the latest summer visitors, arriving trom the 8th to the 10th of May. On the other hand, in Siberia, where birds usually arrive much later than in Western Kurope, the Scarlet Rose-Finch is recorded at considerably earlier dates. Eversmann says that they arrive in the Southern Ural early in April. Radde says he observed them at Tarei-nor, in Dauria, on the 7th of April, and near Lake Baikal on the 26th of that month. Middendorff obtained one on the shores of the Pacific, in lat. 55°, about the same date ; and I first saw them on the Arctic circle, in the valley of the Yenesay, on the 6th of June, almost at the northern limit of their range, in the first of the three great weeks of migration. It is only fair, however, to mention that Dybowsky did not see them at Lake Baikal until after the middle of 48 BRITISH BIRDS. May, and suggests that Middendorff and Radde confounded this species with the Rosy Bullfinch, which arrives earlier. The song of the Scarlet Rose-Finch is a very striking one, and not to be confused with that of any other bird. It is a loud, clear whistle— tii-whit', ti-tu'-i. It does not require a great stretch of imagination to fancy the bird says, “I’m pleased’ to see' you;” the word “see” being strongly accented and slightly prolonged. ‘This song is never varied, but is sometimes repeated twice in rapid succession. When it is heard, the bird may usually be seen perched conspicuously on the top of a bush or low tree. The marshy forest-banks of the great Siberian rivers are a very favourite resort of this bird; and in the Baltic Provinces, where it is common, and in the valley of the Upper Volga, it is described as fre- quenting willows and other low trees in marshy districts. The food of this bird consists of seeds of various kinds, grain, and the buds of trees. In spring it eats insects, and in autumn berries and other fruit. The nest of the Scarlet Rose-Finch is built in the fork of a small bush, or amongst climbing plants not far from the ground. It bears little resem- blance to the nest of a Finch, and might easily be mistaken for that of a Warbler. It is composed of dry grass-stalks and lined with horsehair. It is rather deep, and very neatly and carefully made, although it is so slender as to be semitransparent when held up to the light. The mside diameter is two inches and a quarter. Five is the usual number of eggs ; but sometimes only four are laid, and occasionally as many as six. They vary in length from ‘9 to *73, and in breadth from °63 to ‘55. The ground- colour is greenish blue, not so pale as that of the eggs of the Bullfinch ; the spots are also fewer, smaller, and blacker than in typical eggs of the latter species. ‘They are smaller than the eggs of the Bullfinch, and are not likely to be mistaken for the eggs of any other bird. In the winter the Scarlet Rose-Finch ranges over the plains of India, sometimes in large flocks, but more generally in small parties, frequenting alike the groves, the gardens, and the jungle. At this season of the year its habits much resemble those of the true Finches. In Gilgit they breed at an elevation of 10,000 feet above the level of the sea, and fresh eggs have been obtained there in the second half of July. Early in September they leave the hills and come down into the valley, and soon migrate to their winter-quarters. Captain Butler, describing its habits in Rajpootana, west of Scinde, says that it is very fond of the watery nectar contained im the flower of the Indian coral-tree (Erythrina indica), wpon which tree the bird is always found when it is in blossom. The adult male Scarlet Rose-Finch is a very brilliant bird, but he is almost as much crimson as scarlet. The colour is most brilliant on the head, rump, throat, and breast. The wings and tail are brown, each SCARLET ROSE-FINCH. 49 feather obscurely margined with crimson. The underparts below the breast gradually fade into buffish white on the under tail-coverts. Bill, legs, feet, and claws brown; irides hazel. The female is a very plain- looking bird, not unlike a small hen Sparrow. The general colour is a neutral brown, darkest on the wings, tail, and the centres of the feathers of the head, nape, throat, and breast, palest on the tips of the wing-coverts, the margins of the innermost secondaries and of the throat and breast- feathers, and on the rest of the underparts. The back and rump are slightly suffused with olive. The changes of plumage in this species have never been clearly described. The female in first winter plumage is very brown, and has the dark centres of the feathers much developed. In this stage it bears a striking resemblance to the cross between the Linnet and the Greenfinch (Fringilla cannabina x chloris) ; but the latter may at once be distinguished by the obscureness of its wing-bars and by the shape of its bill. Seen from above, the bill of the Carpodacus is a cone with convex sides, whilst that -of the Fringilla is a cone with concave sides. The female in first summer plumage is scarcely distinguishable from the adult; the brown centres of the feathers appear to fade or bleach, and the pale margins to abrade, so that the streaks are much less conspicuous. No further change takes place in the plumage of the female beyond the faded and abraded appearance of the feathers just before the autumn moult. Males in first winter plumage are scarcely distinguishable from adult females, and even in first summer plumage are sometimes indistinguishable from them. I shot one of these males in the plumage of the female in the valley of the Yenesay on June 20, which I sexed myself; and Major Biddulph obtained several near Gilgit in July, which were evidently breeding. Probably no males attain more than an occasional faint rosy tinge until after their second autumn moult. If this be so, the adult plumage is not assumed until after the third autumn moult, and males of the second year may be recognized by the almost entire absence of the crimson on the back and underparts below the breast. The fully adult male retains his brilliant livery throughout the year, some allow- ance being made for wear and tear, which is only very apparent in late summer, just before the autumn moult. If this explanation of the difference in the plumages of the Scarlet Rose-F inch be the true one, Jerdon’s theory that the winter plumage is duller than that of summer, and Dresser’s theory that the summer plumage is more brilliant than that of spring, fall to the ground. Newton does not refer to the subject. VOL, II. 0) 50 BRITISH BIRDS. Genus PYRRHULA. The Bullfinches were included by Linnzeus in his genus Lowia, where it is a great pity that they were not allowed to remain; but Brisson having in 1760, in his ‘ Ornithologia,’ ii. p. 308, already established the genus Pyrrhula for their reception, it has been almost universally accepted by ornithologists. The Common Bullfinch, the Pyrrhula pyrrhula of Brisson, is the type. . The chief characters by which the Bullfinches may be distinguished from the rest of the Finches are the convex profile of the bill, the metallic blue-black wings and tail, and the white rump. The latter character is perhaps the most conspicuous; but unfortunately in one species, P. awran- tiaca from the Himalayas, the white is suffused with yellow, and in another, P.murina from the Azores, it is so much suffused with brown as to be scarcely distinguishable from the back. The black wings and tail are also more or less common to the genus Coccothraustes, though in most of the species in this genus there is a considerable amount of white either on the one or the other. These two genera are so closely connected, that it is impossible to decide to which Pyrrhula nipalensis should be assigned. In its general appearance it is undoubtedly a Bullfinch; but the rump is almost concolorous with the back, and it agrees with Coccothraustes personatus and C. melanurus in the eccentric character of its tail. This genus has a more restricted range than any other in this subfamily, being almost confined to the Palearctic Region, extending as far north as the Arctic circle, as far south as the southern slopes of the Himalayas, and eastwards across Behring’s Straits into Alaska. About a dozen species have been described, of which several are only worthy of subspecific rank. Only one species is found in the British Islands, which is repre- sented in Eastern Europe by a larger form. No other species occur in the Western Palearctic Region except the one already alluded to, which inhabits the Azores. The Bullfinches inhabit well-wooded districts, and frequent shrubberies, gardens, forests, hedges, and groves. In their habits, local distribution, and food they resemble very closely the Rose-Finches, but are not so gregarious in winter and are more retiring, especially in the breeding- season. Their nests are open and do not differ materially from those of the Crossbills and Grosbeaks, nor is it known that there is any charac- teristic difference in the colour or number of their eggs. BULLFINCH, 51 PYRRHULA VULGARIS. BULLFINCH. (Puate 12.) Pyrrhula pyrrhula, Briss. Orn, iii. p. 8308 (1760). Loxia pyrrhula, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 300 (1766). Fringilla pyrrhula (Briss.), Temm. Man. d’ Orn, p. 200 (1815). Pyrrhula europea, Vieill. N. Dict. d’ Hist. Nat. iy. p. 286 (1816). Pyrrhula rufa, Koch, Syst. baier. Zool. i. p. 227 (1816). Pyrrhula vulgaris, Temm. Man.d’ Orn. i. p. 838 (1820); et auctorum plurimorum —Degland, Gerbe, Savi, Doderlein, Meyer, Bolle, Bideker, Dubos, Naumann, Bonaparte, Brehm, Blasius, Homeyer, Droste, Goebel, Stevenson, Gray, Fritsch, Thompson, Cabanis, Harting, Russow, Seebohm § Harvie-Brown, Severtzow, Cordeaux, Sharpe, Lilford, Schlegel, Sachse, Finsch, Crown Prince Rudolf, New- ton, Brandt, Schalow, Blyth, Gould, Giglioli, Godman, &c. Pyrrhula pileata, Macgill, Brit. B. i. p. 407 (1837), The Bullfinch is one of the best known of our smaller birds, and one that from its tame and confiding nature is easily kept in confinement. From its love of dense thickets and its retiring habits it is apt to be regarded as much rarer than it really is. It is found commonly, although more or less locally, in all the wooded portions of Great Britain, and occasionally breeds in the Channel Islands. It does not appear to visit the Hebrides, these islands probably being too bare and treeless for such a species. An example was obtained in Orkney in 1809; and in Shetland a female was shot in 1863 at Halligarth. In Ireland the Bullfinch is said not to be so common as in England, nevertheless it is to be met with throughout the country. The Bullfinch breeds throughout North Europe and Asia, not extending much beyond the Arctic circle. In South Europe, Turkestan, and South Siberia it is principally known as a winter visitor, occasionally straying as far south as Algeria and Asia Minor; but a few remain to breed in the mountains of North Portugal and Spain, North Italy, the Carpa- thians, and the Caucasus. Throughout its extensive range the Bullfinch shows some slight varia- tions both of size and colour. In Europe west of Poland and south of Norway the birds are the smallest, the grey of the back is slightly the darkest, the red of the underparts is least brilliant, and the tips of the greater wing-coverts are grey. The extreme eastern form from Kamtschatka is slightly larger, especially in the bill, the grey of the upper parts is paler and brighter, and the tips of the greater wing-coverts are pure white ; there is no red on the outside web of the first innermost secondary, and the outside tail-feather has a white streak on the middle of E2 52 BRITISH BIRDS. the inner web next the shaft. This form has been named P. kamtschatica by Taczanowsky. In the intervening localities intermediate forms occur ; examples from Asia Minor are intermediate in the colour of the back, but are darker than examples from Krasnoyarsk. One example from Kamts- chatka has the white on the outside tail-feathers, and an example from the Ussuri river, though it has the white on the outside tail-feathers, has also the red on the innermost secondary. These intermediate forms are known by the name of P. mayor; but there can be no doubt that neither of these two eastern forms are specifically distinct from the Common Bullfinch ; and if we accept the western form as the typical one, the Pyr- rhula vulgaris of Temminck (the Pyrrhula pyrrhula of Brisson), the eastern form must bear the name of P. vulgaris, var. major. Examples of the latter form occasionally occur in winter in Eastern Germany, and the Bullfinches found in Greece and Asia Minor also belong to this variety. The Bullfinch has several allies in the Himalayas, East Siberia, China, and Japan, but none of them have the black head combined with the red breast as in the males of our bird. The Bullfinch is one of our most retirimg birds, especially in summer, and seeks at this season the seclusion of the woods and dense shrubberies to rear its young. In autumn and winter its range is considerably wider, and it may then be seen in fields and gardens, in small plantations where the undergrowth is dense, and in matted hedgerows where tall herbaceous plants and brambles struggle through and hang over whitethorn and hazel bushes. In winter, especially just before spring, the Bullfinch is very commonly seen in large gardens and orchards. It very rarely visits the wilder portions of the country, and where there are no trees there will be no Bullfinches. The habits of the Bullfinch are so quiet and retiring that it is only when the leaves are off the trees that we have much opportunity of studying them. It is not by any means a gregarious bird, nor does it usually evince any partiality for the company of other birds, as is the case with so many Finches, and generally it is only accompanied by its mate. In late autumn, however, Bullfinches are sometimes seen in little parties composed of the young of the year and their parents. In winter it is by no means a shy bird, and will allow the observer to approach it quite closely and watch its restless actions as it skips from twig to twig searching for berries and seeds. The Bullfinch is rarely seen on the ground in this country; but in the forests of Siberia it is glad enough to make friends with the Snow-Buntings, Mealy Redpoles, and Siberian Jays, and feed on the droppings of the horses on the snow. ‘The call-note of the Bullfinch to his mate is a full, rich, but low piping whistle, very monotonous and plaintive, and sounds like dyw, dy; and his song, which is usually uttered in so low a tone as to be scarcely audible at a distance, as if he were BULLFINCH. 53 fearful of being discovered in the act, is very pleasing and mellow. Usually it is warbled as he sits bolt upright, and every now and then jerks his wings and tail and turns his head from side to side, as if about to take wing. The female also sings; but her performance is much inferior to that of the male. The Bullfinch is in great request as a cage-bird, from the readiness with which it will learn to whistle various tunes, and from its docile and confiding disposition. There can be little doubt that Bullfinches mate for life. At all seasons of the year they may be observed in pairs, and even in midwinter marks of affection may be constantly seen passing between them. In early spring the male retires with his mate to the haunts he loves best, and in which he seems most at home, to the dense shrubberies and thickets, amongst a superabundance of verdure of all descriptions, where the young can be reared in seclusion. So retiring is he, that during the breeding-season he is very rarely seen, and seldom, indeed, betrays the whereabouts of his nest; im fact, at this time of the year the Bullfinch is one of the most silent of birds ; for its bridal song is only heard at intervals in early spring. It usually commences to build its nest about the middle of April, and eggs may be found by the latter end of that month. The site for the nest is chosen in a low tree or bush; very often some species of evergreen is selected, as a holly or a yew, and always in a dense situation. Plantations of young firs are very often selected by the Bullfinch, and its nest is frequently placed in the branches of a small spruce. A whitethorn hedge near a plantation or a thick wood is also a favourite place. The nest of the Bullfinch can readily be told from that of almost every other British bird. It is a very beautiful structure, the framework almost entirely composed of slender twigs, and is very flat, not unlike a miniature Wood-Pigeon’s nest. The sticks are very artfully woven and matted together; and in the middle of this platform of sticks the cup of the nest is formed of fine rootlets projecting above the framework, making the inside as deep as usual. In some nests a little wool or a feather or two are found. The eggs are from four to six in number, greenish blue in ground-colour, spotted and sometimes streaked with dark purplish brown, and with larger and paler blotches of pinkish brown. In some eggs the spots are evenly distributed over the entire surface, but im the majority of specimens they form an irregular zone round the large end. The eggs of the Bullfinch are much bluer than those of any allied common birds, except those of the Lesser Redpole, with which their size effectually prevents any confusion. ‘They are in fact miniature Pine- Grosbeak’s eggs. The only eggs of British birds which they at all closely resemble are those of the Scarlet Bullfinch; but as this bird does not breed in this country, they cannot be confused with them, except in the cabinet. These eggs may be distinguished from those of the common 54 BRITISH BIRDS. species by having the markings smaller, and generally of a much richer brown, almost black; they have also more gloss upon them. The eggs of the Common Bullfinch vary from °85 to ‘7 inch im length, and from ‘6 to ‘55 inch in breadth. During the hatching-season the Bullfinches are very quiet; the female alone appears to sit upon the nest, and is so tame at this period, or rather so unwilling to move, that she will often allow the observer to approach her within a few feet ere she quits her charge. It is not improbable that the Bullfinch rears two broods in the season; for eggs of this bird may be found as late as the end of June and beginning of July. The young are tended for some considerable time after they leave the nest, and, in some instances at least, remain with their parents throughout the autumn and winter. The food of the Bullfinch is almost exclusively composed of vegetable substances—fruits and berries and various kinds of seeds. It does not, however, live exclusively on these, and in summer will feed on small insects. Dixon has the following note on this subject :—“I have seen a Bullfinch in July, a time of the year when it is unusually shy and retiring, hovering above the tall plants near a stream in the secluded corner of a shrubbery, catching insects just like a Flycatcher. It was a female bird, and had a nest close at hand in a dense yew tree. It also repeatedly en- deavoured to alight on some large fern-leaves, which always bent under its weight, as if seeking for the various insects that infest such situations. The Greenfinch will also feed in a precisely similar manner. It is also hard to believe that the young of this bird are reared on any other food but insects, and doubtless many kinds of larvee are captured for this purpose.” For the greater part of the year, however, the Bullfinch feeds on the seeds of the most noxious plants and rank grasses. It will eat those of the dock, the nettle, the groundsel, chickweed, thistle, and a host of others, whilst its love for berries is none the less, and it eagerly feeds on those of the wild rose, the hawthorn, the privet, the elder, and some others. The Bullfinch is also fond of other fare, and its love for the tender buds of fruit-trees too often lures it to destruction. It is seldom respected by the gardener, who, in shooting it down, makes bad worse, and does more damage in one discharge of his gun than a host of Bull- finches would in a week. Early in the year the bird may often be seen on the branches of cherry-, plum-, apple-, and pear-trees, or on the twigs of the gooseberry and currant-bushes, and the ground is strewed with the cases of the buds, marking out its course. Singularly enough the bird confines its attentions to the flower-buds, those producing leaves being passed by. 'This destructive habit of the Bullfinch cannot be defended or excused; but further research may prove that the bird is, after all, a real benefactor to the tree from which it levies such a costly tribute. At this season of the BULLFINCH. 55 year the Bullfinch is very conspicuous on the fruit-trees, his gay colours contrasting strongly with those of the opening blossoms. He is now almost incessantly in motion, like a Tit or a Golderest ; and as he passes from tree to tree we have an opportunity of examining his flight, which is undulating and not very rapid. The bird rarely flies far at a time, although well capable of domg so, but prefers to progress in short jerky flights from bush to bush, or even by hopping from one branch to another. In winter Bullfinches are very fond of frequenting hedges, where they busily search for the seeds of all kinds of weeds; and although half a dozen birds may be met with close together they do not associate; and the mere acci- dent of their being together is caused by the abundance of food. The Bullfinch belongs to the class of gipsy migrants, and has no settled winter home. A few examples occasionally appear on our coast and are seen near the lighthouses, but the instances are solitary. In this country they wander about considerably in winter, remaining in a district for a ‘short time, then disappearing again ; but in the severest winters they do not retire southwards nor ever cross the sea. The Bullfinch is singularly striking in appearance and is a remarkably handsome bird. The head above the eyes, the upper tail-coverts and the tail, and the wings (except the tips of the greater coverts, which are ashy grey, and the lesser wing-coverts, which are bluish grey) are glossy bluish black; the outer web of the innermost secondary is almost all red; the nape and back are bluish grey; the rump is pure white; the chin is black’; the sides of the head, the throat, breast, and belly are brick-red, and the vent and under tail-coverts are white. Bill black ; legs, feet, and claws dark brown ; irides brown. The female has the same pattern of colour as the male; the head, wings, and tail are very similar im colour, but not quite so glossy black; the parts that are red in the male are replaced by brown, and the white parts are not so pure. Young in first plumage resemble the female, but have no black on the head. The adult plumage is, however, attained by a moult in their first autumn. Melanistic varieties of the Bullfinch are not uncommon in confinement ; and Mr. Gurney records, in the ‘ Zoologist ’ for 1854 (p. 4252), an entirely black specimen, which eventually moulted into the normal-coloured plumage. 56 BRITISH BIRDS. Genus COCCOTHRAUSTES. The Grosbeaks were included by Linnzeus in his genus Lowia, and are closely allied to theCrossbills. Brisson established the genus Coccothraustes for their reception in 1760 in his ‘ Ornithologia,’ iii. p. 218, making the Common Hawfinch, his Coccothraustes coccothraustes, the type. The Hawfinches may be distinguished by their very large bills, which are nearly as long as the tarsus, and are so thick that the ridge of the upper mandible forms almost a continuous curve with the contour of the head. The wings and tail are black, in some species glossy black, but there are generally white patches on many of the feathers of one or the other. None of the species have white rumps. The geographical distribution of this genus is almost precisely the same as that of the Crossbills, the Rose-Finches, and the Bullfinches, to which they are so closely allied as to be scarcely generically separable. They inhabit the Palearctic and Nearctic Regions south of the Arctic circle, beyond the former extending as far south as the southern slopes of the Himalayas, and in the latter having a still more southern range, breeding not only in Mexico but also in the mountains of Guatemala. The number of species in the genus probably does not exceed a dozen. Only one species occurs in Europe, which is a resident in the British Islands. Most of the Grosbeaks are inhabitants of pine-forests ; but the European species is most partial to beech- and oak-woods. Except during the breeding-season they are gregarious in their habits. They are almost omnivorous in their diet, feeding alike on seeds, fruit, and insects. None of them have any great powers of song. They breed in trees at various heights from the ground, and their nests are formed on a similar model to that of the Bullfinch. Very little concerning the eggs of the Grosbeaks is known, beyond those of the European species; but they probably do not differ in character from them. HAWFINCH. 57 COCCOTHRAUSTES VULGARIS. HAWFINCH. (Piate 13.) Coccothraustes coccothraustes, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 219 (1760), Loxia coccothraustes, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 299 (1766). Fringilla coccothraustes (Briss.), Meyer, Vig. Liv- und Esthl. p.73 (1815). Coccothraustes deformis, Koch, Syst. baier. Zool. i. p. 226 (1816). Coccothraustes vulgaris, Pall. Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat. ii. p. 12 (1826); et auctorum plurimorum— Viedllot, Degland § Gerbe, Savi, Salvadori, Newton, Dresser, &c. Coccothraustes europseus, Selby, fide Swains. Classif. B. ii. p. 277 (1837). Coccothraustes atrogularis, Macgil. Brit. B.i. p. 356 (1837). Coccothraustes vulgaris japonicus, Temm. § Schl. Faun. Japon. p. 90, pl. li. (1847). The Hawfinch is by no means so rare a bird as has been generally supposed. It is very local, and during the breeding-season, like its rela- tions the Pime-Grosbeak and the Crossbill, it is so shy and skulking that it frequently escapes detection. It probably breeds in suitable localities in almost every county of England and Wales, except perhaps north of Yorkshire. I have seen its nest in my brother’s garden near Hitchin, and have received many accounts of its breeding in various localities near London. I have shot it during the breeding-season near Sheffield ; but no reliable accounts of its nesting in the western counties are to be found. It certainly breeds in Ireland; but in Scotland it appears to be an accidental winter straggler to almost every county. The Hawfinch is found in suitable localities throughout Europe, Siberia, and the north island of Japan south of lat. 60°. Its southern range in the west extends to Algeria, and in the east to Asia Minor and the Caucasus. It appears to be very rare in North Persia and Turkestan, but has been known to stray as far as the north-west frontiers of India. It passes through Manchooria on migration, and winters in North China and the main island of Japan. Where the winters are not -too severe it is a resident bird. The Hawfinch has no ally with which it is likely to be con- founded, no other species in the genus having the peculiar wing-feathers expanded at the tip and curled. The Hawfinch of Japan has been separated from the European species under the name of C. vulgaris japonicus, on the ground of its being lighter and paler in colour; but the difference is scarcely perceptible, and is not greater than that to be found in eastern as compared with western examples of every species. The Hawfinch is a resident in this country ; but possibly some of the younger birds may cross the Channel in autumn, and it seems probable that some of the flocks seen in winter may be migrants from South Scandinavia, as it has frequently occurred on the island of Heligoland. 58 BRITISH BIRDS. There are several plantations, or small woods, within a mile or two of the outskirts of Sheffield where the Hawfinch may be seen at all times of the year. One, in particular, is principally composed of beech. _ Every now and then you may hear a sharp click repeated several times, and you may catch sight of a small flock of half a dozen birds flying in a straggling mariner through the topmost branches of the trees. You may recognize - them at once by their short tails and Hawk- or Cuckoo-like heads, causing them to appear to have scarcely any neck. They are very wild and shy, and this, together with their rapid and powerful flight, makes them difficult to shoot; but occasionally you may see them on the ground busily engaged in feeding upon the fallen mast under the beeches. Besides the sharp click which appears to be generally uttered on the wing, and of which the letters bpt serve to remind me, they have a feeble song in spring. A gentleman who lives not far from this plantation tells me that before the nesting-season he often hears the notes of these birds, which are by no means unmusical, and are unlike those of any other bird—four simple whistles in an ascend- ing scale, the first two at a slight interval and the last two repeated rapidly one after the other, the final one being somewhat drawn out. The old birds bring the young in their first spotted plumage to his garden to feed upon the peas; and he tells me that they also make havoc amongst his cherries ; but unlike the Blackbirds, who eat the fruit and reject the stone, the Hawfinches eat the stone and reject the fruit. As is usual with most showy birds, the Hawfinch is excessively shy, and only frequents those localities that are well timbered and afford it plenty of shelter. Its chief haunts are in woods, fields in which there are occasional clumps of trees, old orchards, and dense shrubberies, where the evergreens make it a secluded retreat. Even in the suburbs of London the Hawfinch is far from being a scarce bird, if a local one; and, according to Mr. Harting, it has nested, amongst other places, im the Horticultural Gardens at Chiswick, in the neighbourhood of Harrow, at Muswell Hill, and Hampstead. A bird that is so shy and retirmg as the Hawfinch, leaves but little to be said of its habits; and the observer usually only gains a transient glimpse of it as it hastens away into the deepest parts of the cover. Like most of the British Finches, the Hawfinch congregates into flocks in winter, sometimes of only half a dozen individuals, probably the young of the previous season and their parents, but occasionally in very large numbers. The Hawfinch seems to have a great liking for yew trees, probably because they are so gloomy and dense, and partly because the luscious berries are very palatable to it. The birds also frequent these trees in winter to roost, approaching them in a very hurried manner, and in- stantly disappearing amongst the foliage. Dixon, when in Algeria, made the following notes on this bird :—“‘ We only found the Hawfinch in the evergreen-oak forests on the hills above HAWFINCH. 59 Lambessa. Here it was by no means common, and we only saw several scattered pairs. The Hawfinch is shy enough in England, as is well known, and one would almost be led to think that the cause of this shy- ness was the incessant manner in which it is hunted both by gardeners and collectors, if we did not find it just as wild and wary in these forest solitudes of Algeria, where man is so rare an animal as to cause it no alarm. The birds were evidently mated, although incubation had not commenced, for each male was accompanied by a female. We first met with them in a small natural clearing in the forest, where the trees were scattered in clumps far apart. It was, as a rule, only when they were fly- ing from tree to tree that we could see them; but sometimes we observed them sitting quietly amongst the branches, turning their large heads from ‘side to side, and peering about in all directions, as if in search of the cause of alarm. The flight of this bird is undulating, but sometimes straight- forward, and is then very rapid. As they flew from tree to tree, I noticed that they usually dropped down into the branches, far less frequently flying up into them. We did not hear them utter any call- notes; but when at rest the male birds occasionally twittered a little, something like Greenfinches.” The Hawfinch is not much of asongster. It has a few notes, which can scarcely be called more than a low chatter. There is nothing very striking in its performance ; but when several are twittering away together the general effect is very pleasant. Its call-note is said to resemble the well- known zh of the Greenfinch. The Hawfinch pairs about the middle of April, and its nest is rarely built before the trees are in full foliage. The site for the nest differs consider- ably. <A favourite place is in the apple- or pear-trees in an orchard, or in an old whitethorn, often in quite an exposed situation ; and when it breeds in woods it often selects a hornbeam, or less frequently a holly. The Haw- finch does not often breed in shrubberies, and its nest is somewhat rarely placed in evergreen trees ; but it has been found amongst ivy. It will also build in tall oak trees ; and Doubleday says that it occasionally nests in fir trees in plantations. Sometimes the nest is only a few feet from the ground, at others it is as much as forty feet. The nest is usually com- menced by the latter end of April or early in May, and sometimes several will be found in the same plantation. Mr. Thomasson informs me that he once found three nests in one orchard. The nest is a very beautiful piece of handiwork,‘and is similar to that of the Bullfinch, but on an enlarged scale. The outside is invariably made of twigs, frequently intermixed with lichens and sometimes with dry plants; and the cup of the nest is formed of dry grasses, lined with fine roots and often a little hair. The nest, as a whole, is very flat and somewhat bulky; but the cup is not unusually shallow, and is neatly finished. The eggs of the Hawfinch vary from four 60 BRITISH BIRDS. to six in number, and are usually laid about the second week in May, sometimes earlier. There are two very distinct types. The usual type is pale olive or bluish green in ground-colour, streaked with dark olive- brown, and having a few spots of the same colour on the surface, and with underlying markings of greyish brown. The second type differs only in having the ground-colour buff and the underlying spots more inclined to violet-grey. The eggs of the Hawfinch do not resemble those of any other British Finch, their peculiar streaky markings distinguishing them at a glance. They are usually quite as much streaked as Buntings’ eggs, and most nearly resemble in colour those of the Reed-Bunting ; but the rich purplish-brown markings and much smaller size prevent any confusion between them. Some eggs of the Hawfinch are not so streaked, and the markings are few and very distinct ; but even on this variety a few hair- like lines occur. Two very remarkable eggs from Pomerania, in my collection, have the ground-colour pale bluish green, and the markings are confined to one clouded mass of pale brown, over which runs a broad and irregular darker streak. They vary in length from 1-0 to °85 inch, and in breadth from °8 to ‘67 inch. The Hawfinch throughout the breeding-season is very shy and retiring, and when its nest is approached, should it only contain eggs, the bird will glide rapidly away into the cover; but sometimes when the young are hatched it will fly round the head of the intruder uttering anxious cries. The Hawfinch probably only rears one brood in the year; but if its first clutch of eggs be taken others will be laid ; and this circumstance probably accounts for the late broods sometimes met with. The young are fed largely on caterpillars ; and in summer insects form no small portion of the bird’s diet; but its principal food is seeds of various kinds, as its stout strong bill abundantly proves. It is very fond of the seeds of the hornbeam, beech-nuts, the berries of the hawthorn, and cherry- stones, which it cracks with ease. It feeds on various soft fruits, especially on peas and the berries of the yew. The Hawfinch is not an elegant-looking bird, nevertheless it is a very handsome one. The feathers at the base of the bill, the lores, and the throat are black; the rest of the head is reddish brown, palest on the ear- coverts and forehead ; the nape is ashy grey ; the back and the scapulars are dark chestnut-brown, becoming paler on the rump, and shading into yellowish brown on the upper tail-coverts ; the median wing-coverts are white, the rest black ; the wings are black, with blue and purple reflections, the outermost primaries having a white spot near the middle of the inner web; the remainder of the quills have most of the inner web greyish white ; the sixth and four succeeding primaries are truncate, the inner edge of the tips rounded like a billhook ; the tail is black, the four outer feathers on each side having a large terminal white spot on the inner web, the four HAWFINCH. 61 centre ones narrowly tipped with white and tinged with rufous. The underparts are pale yellowish brown, shading into white on the under tail- coverts. Bill in summer lead-blue, in winter pinkish brown ; legs, feet, and claws pale brown ; irides greyish white. The female is not very different from the male; but the colours are duller, and the white spots are not so pure. Young in first plumage have the wings and tail of the adult; but the black at the base of the bill and on the throat is absent, as is also the grey collar; the breast and flanks are barred with brown; and the head, throat, and upper parts are more or less suffused with yellow. This plu- mage is, however, changed into that of the adult by a moult in the first autumn. The autumn plumage of the adult is much richer than in summer, but does not otherwise differ. 62 BRITISH BIRDS. Genus PASSER. The genus Passer is another of the genera of Brisson which are addi- tional to those of Linnzus, and have been so universally adopted that an exception to the rules of the Stricklandian Code had to be made in their favour. It was, however, so clumsily done that, according to the letter of the law as it stands, the genera additional to those of Linnzus of all the other contemporaries of the great Swede are equally admissible. Linneus included the Sparrows in his genus Fringilla; and as Brisson called the Chaffinch Passer fringilla, that bird has been accepted as the type. Brisson’s genus Passer, which he established in 1760 (‘ Ornitho- logia, iii. p. 72), is synonymous with the genus Fringilla of Linnzus, . except that he removed the Goldfinches into a new genus which he called Carduelis. The fact that Brisson placed the Sparrow at the head of his genus Passer, though he did not adopt his usual custom and call it Passer passer only, but gave it the trinomial name of Passer passer domesticus, has caused most writers to regard the Sparrow as the type of the genus Passer, thus making it legally additional to, instead of synonymous with, the genus Fringilla of Linneus. It is not known that there are any structural characters by which the Sparrows may be distinguished from the other genera of Finches. Their principal characteristic is that the general colour of the plumage is brown of different shades, occasionally varied with black and white. The bill resembles very much that of the Rose-Finches, but is somewhat more elongated. The Sparrows inhabit the whole of the Old World south of the Arctic circle, with the exception of the Australian Region. One species has been recently introduced into the latter region, as well as into the New World. Wallace includes thirty-four species in this genus, of which seven occur in the Western Palearctic Region, two of these being residents in the British Islands. The Sparrows are essentially birds of the plains. They are practically omnivorous, and possess very little powers of song. ‘They are more or less gregarious in their habits. They build in holes, or form domed nests in trees and bushes; and their eggs are whitish in ground-colour, profusely spotted with brown of various shades, principally at the large end. HOUSE-SPARROW. 63 PASSER DOMESTICUS. HOUSE-SPARROW. (Puate 13.) Passer domesticus, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 72 (1760); et auctorum plurimorum— (Gmelin), (Scopolt), (Latham), (Temminck), Degland § Gerbe, (Naumann), Dresser, Newton, &c. Fringilla domestica, Zinn. Syst. Nat, i. p. 825 (1766), Pyrgita domestica (Brvss.), Bove, Ists, 1822, p. 554. Passer tingitanus, Bonap. Cat. Parzud. p. 18 (1856). The House-Sparrow is certainly the best known, the most widely distri- buted, and the most closely attached to man of all our British birds. Almost without exception it is commonly distributed throughout the British Islands, only being absent from certain isolated places in the High- lands, the bare and rocky islands of Scotland, and one or two similar places in Ireland, As is generally known, the House-Sparrow is by far the commonest in the most populous districts, and as the wilder localities are brought under cultivation the Sparrow soon follows—as, for instance, in the Outer Hebrides where, half a century ago, the bird was unknown, but has now firmly established itself. The House-Sparrow is distributed over the whole of Europe (up to, and occasionally beyond, the Arctic circle), with the exception of Sicily, Sar- dinia, and Malta (where it is replaced by Passer hispaniolensis, which is also found in Spain, Asia Minor, Egypt, Nubia, and Algeria, together with our bird, the latter being chiefly confined to the towns), and of Ltaly, Corsica, and the Southern Tyrol, in which latter countries it is replaced by P. italie. Both these species may be easily distinguished by having the crown of the head chestnut instead of ash-grey. In Asia the Sparrow extends as far as the sources of the Amoor, but does not appear to be found in the valley of the Lena, further east in Siberia, or in Japan and China, although it is found throughout India and the Burmah peninsula. Examples from South Persia, Afghanistan, Beluchistan, India, and Burmah are slightly paler and more brilliant in colour, and haye the ear- coverts white stead of ashy grey. They have been described as a distinct species under the name of Passer indicus. ‘This form must, however, be considered only subspecifically distinct from that of Europe and North Asia, inasmuch as the Sparrows of the Caucasus, North Persia, and Tur- kestan are intermediate in colour. The range of the House-Sparrow has been artificially increased to a very 64 BRITISH BIRDS. large extent. The bird has been introduced into America and several of the islands in the Atlantic and the Pacific, into Australia, and even New Zealand. These emigrants appear to thrive well, and in some instances have multiplied considerably in their new homes. Thus the time is pro- bably not far distant when the Sparrow will be absolutely cosmopolitan. It might almost appear an unnecessary task to give a full history of such a well-known bird as the House-Sparrow ; nevertheless there is much in its economy of interest. It is so closely associated with man and his habi- tations that it may be considered to be semi-domesticated ; for almost without exception it may be seen close to his haunts and industries. It is as much at home in the midst of our grimiest cities as in the quiet country farmyard, and lives and rears its young on the peer’s mansion as well as on the peasant’s cottage. Wherever it is introduced it makes itself at home, and is as familiar an object from the windows of the Fifth Avenue Hotel as it is from those of the Langham. It appears to have no more love fora country life than a town one, and in both situations is equally as pert and impudent. It is generally found close to houses; but in summer it is as frequently in the fields. The House-Sparrow is a thoroughly gregarious bird, and at all seasons of the year lives in close companionship with its fellows. It is one of our tamest birds, and will come with all the boldness of inspired confidence to our doors in search of crumbs and other food. It also frequents railway-stations, hopping about amongst the carriage- wheels or chirping on the iron girders above. It is equally common in the grain-docks, where it breeds under the sheds, and finds a plentiful supply of food scattered from the unloading ships. The House-Sparrow is perhaps nowhere so common as in the gardens of the Zoological Society of London. They literally swarm there, and evidently have a very easy time of it, obtaining their food by feeding in the pens of the animals. At dusk the evergreen trees swarm with the birds, who go there to roost, a proceeding which is taken advantage of by the keepers, who net them for the purpose of supplying some of the animals with food. The House-Sparrow is a life-paired bird; and doubtless, owing to the fact that its conditions of existence are so easy, it may be found breeding, more or less, throughout the whole year, especially in towns. Sparrows often fight fiercely in the early months of the year; and when two birds are engaged in combat, their angry cries seem to be the signal for all the birds in the neighbourhood to collect and joi in the fray. They will pursue each other like lightning through the bushes, all gathermg in a confused heap, every moment the din being increased by fresh arrivals ; and when the difference is satisfactorily settled each attends to its own con- cerns again. The breeding-season of the Sparrow usually commences in April, and lasts through May and June. Many of the birds breed in societies, others singly, according to the accommodation afforded them ; and their HOUSE-SPARROW. 65 choice of a nesting-site is very various. The usual situation is under the eaves, in the niches of masonry, in walls, amongst thatch, and in holes in trees ; in fact the bird will take possession of any suitable hole in a wall or pipe and there make its nest. The Sparrow chooses also other sites; and in this particular we have perhaps the most interesting part of its life-history. In addition to the clumsy, ill-made nest which the Sparrow always builds in holes, it fre- quently constructs a well-made domed nest in a tree. It is probable that the birds which build domed nests always breed in trees, and that the habit is hereditary ; but some ornithologists have supposed that the Sparrow builds in trees for the sake of coolness, and only in exceptionally hot weather. Almost every kind of tree is selected, but evergreens are perhaps the most frequently chosen. The nests are also often built amongst ivy, either growing on walls or on tree-trunks. A more unusual breeding-place was noticed by Dixon when in Skye; he writes :—“ A fact worthy of note is the breeding-place of this bird at Portree. In some few instances I found their nests in the dense furze bushes by the roadside, within a few inches of the ground. They were domed structures, like those the bird invariably makes when in the branches of trees, and it was no uncommon thing to see two in the same bush.” The Sparrow also very often usurps the nest of the House-Martin, or even that of the Barn-Swallow ; and it will fre- quently build amongst the sticks of Rooks’ nests ; and in the Dobrudscha I saw the nest of an Egyptian Vulture containing two young half-fledged birds, underneath which one or more Sparrows had built their nests, and were hopping about amongst the sticks as unconcernedly as possible. It also sometimes builds in the old nest of a Magpie. A Sparrow’s nest in a tree is a very different structure to a Sparrow’s nest ina hole. In the latter situation it is very loosely and slovenly put together, very often a portion of the materials hanging out of the hole, attracting the attention of every passer-by; but in a tree it is globular and well woven, and the hole which admits the parent birds is often so effectually concealed as to render it necessary to pull the structure to pieces to get at the eggs within. Dry grass and straws, itermixed with all kinds of rubbish, such as strips of rags, twine, worsted, &c., form the outside, and it is always warmly lined with a profusion of feathers, and sometimes masses of wool and hair. The eggs of the House-Sparrow vary from five to seven in number, and are pale bluish white in ground-colour, more or less thickly blotched, spotted, and speckled with dark brown, lilac, and greyish brown. They vary considerably in size, shape, and colour. In some the ground-colour is almost concealed by the rich brown markings, freckled and blotched over the entire surface; in others the spots are large and very bold, and chiefly massed on the large end of the egg; whilst many specimens are scarcely distinguishable from those of the Pied Wagtail. They vary in VOL, II. = 66 . BRITISH BIRDS. length from ‘95 to ‘8 inch, and in breadth from ‘65 to ‘57 inch. It is often impossible to distinguish small eggs of the present species from those of the Tree-Sparrow. Many eggs of this bird also very closely resemble certain varieties of the eggs of the Meadow-Pipit. The Sparrow often sits upon the first egg as soon as it is laid, and the female bird performs the task of incubating the eggs. After the young leave the nest they are often fed and tended by the old birds, but sometimes are abandoned ere they can well take care of themselves. In the hot months of the year the House-Sparrow is excessively fond of dusting itself, like the domestic fowl; and sometimes as many as half a dozen may be seen enjoying this luxury in company. In Derbyshire, where the roads are mostly limestone, Sparrows are not unfrequently seen to fly from them with their plumage almost as white as snow. The Sparrow’s flight is rapid, and when prolonged for any great distance is undulating, but when only flying a little way it is almost direct. Upon the ground it progresses in a series of hops. It is by no means an inactive bird; and were it not so common, its sprightly form and not unshowy dress would win for it considerable admiration. But the Sparrow ‘of the country, the clean bird of the farmyard, is a very different-looking bird to the little smoke-begrimed objects that go by the name in towns. Even the country Sparrows in England cannot contrast favourably in purity of plumage with the birds inhabiting North-European and Siberian towns, where the Sparrow’s beauty is perhaps seen at its best. The song of the Sparrow scarcely deserves the name, and consists of a few twittering notes, resembling somewhat the song of a Greenfinch ; and its love-note is a musical twitter, uttered to serenade his mate as she sits, or rather hes, upon the walls or copmgs. Its call-note is a sharp chirp, at best most unsatisfactorily described on paper ; but most probably, even whilst these pages are being read, certainly whilst they are being written, the Sparrow’s merry note sounds outside, and renders a bad attempt to describe it unnecessary. The House-Sparrow is partly granivorous and partly insectivorous. In towns the bird chiefly subsists upon the undigested grain amongst the droppings in the streets and on whatever edible substances may be thrown from the houses; it may also be often seen chasing a butterfly or other large insect, and it feeds upon various larve which it finds in woodwork and crevices of masonry. In the country its diet is rather more varied; it feeds on grain, both the seed-corn and the harvest, the seeds of grasses, caterpillars, and most kinds of fruit and berries. It is also frequently seen on the ground in fields and grass-plots, probably in search of worms and grubs. Dixon writes :—“‘Much controversy has taken place respecting the present bird’s injurious qualities. The Sparrow eats much that is harmful HOUSE-SPARROW. 67 to the crops—the seeds of the charlock and the dock and other noxious weeds; but as a set-off against this it devours an astonishing amount of grain. It feeds on larvee and perfect insects, but it also levies a con- siderable tithe from the fruit-trees. Kept in proper bounds, the Sparrow is undoubtedly a useful bird; but its increase is so rapid, its conditions of life so smooth, and its enemies so few, that, unless artificial means be taken to keep its numbers in check, it soon becomes a perfect pest. I have known farmers in the north of England cease from growing corn at all, or only in the smallest quantities, entirely owing to the inroads of the House-Sparrow ! and I have seen fields of corn so stripped by these destructive birds that the straw was the only recompense the poor farmer got for his outlay of time and seed. Of course this is only in the neigh- bourhood of large towns. It is not what the birds absolutely eat, although one Sparrow will take its own bulk of corn in a day, but it is what they waste in the process, by shaking it to the ground or breaking the straws. The Sparrow must be kept under; and this is the opinion of every farmer who has the ill luck to follow his plough near a town. ‘The bird has been introduced into the United States, and its increase there is so rapid that the day will come when our American cousins will repent of having introduced such a destructive souvenir of ‘home. After the young are reared the Sparrows unite into flocks and (that is to say the country-bred ones) retire to the fields, where they live chiefly upon grass- seeds until the corn is ripe. These flocks are often composed of many hundreds of birds; and a British farmer usually looks upon their visits to his fields with as much dismay as an Hastern farmer does upon a flock of locusts.” The House-Sparrow is not at all migratory in this country; but that it occasionally wanders from home is proved by the fact of its being taken on migration on Heligoland. The immense flocks of this species that frequent our fields in autumn would almost lead us to suppose that the number of Sparrows was increased by migrants from the continent; for the number of birds in the towns is not visibly decreased; but upon closer exami- uation it will probably be found that these hordes of Sparrows are mostly young birds. Although the Sparrow is avery hardy bird, it is undoubtedly a migrant in the coldest portion of itsrange. In the valley of the Petchora it did not appear to arrive until early in May. The House-Sparrow has the crown, nape, lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts bluish grey; over the lores and the eye is a narrow white streak ; behind the eye and surrounding the ear-coverts and the sides of the neck is a broad chestnut band; the upper back is very dark brown, each feather edged with reddish brown; the wings and tail are brown, across the former is a broad white bar, caused by the lesser wing-coverts being broadly tipped with white; the lores, throat, and fore neck are F 68 BRITISH BIRDS. black, the cheeks are white, shading into pale grey on the ear-coverts, and the rest of the underparts are white, shading into grey on the flanks. Bill lead-blue in summer, black in winter; legs, feet, and claws brown ; irides dark brown. ‘The female differs considerably from the male, and has the whole of the upper parts dull brown, the back streaked with darker brown; the eye-stripe is pale buff, the white wing-bar is not so pure, and the underparts are darker and browner. Young birds resemble the female, but are lighter in colour. After the first moult the young males resemble the old birds of that sex; but it appears not to be until the second year that they assume the richness of colour which stamps the fully adult bird. After the autumn moult the adult male has pale edges to the feathers of the head and throat, but these pale edges are cast in spring. TREE-SPARROW. _ 69 PASSER MONTANUS. TREE-SPARROW. (Puate 13.) Passer montanus, Briss, Orn. iii. p. 79 (1760); et auctorum plurimorum— (Gmelin), (Scopoli), (Latham), (Temminck), Degland § Gerbe, (Naumann), Salvadori, Newton, Dresser, &c. Passer campestris, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 82 (1760). Pyrrhula pyrrhula hamburgensis, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 314 (1760). Fringilla montana, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 824 (1766), Loxia hamburgia, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 854 (1788), Fringilla campestris (Briss.), Schrank, Fauna Boica, i. p. 181 (1798-1803). Pyrgita montana (Briss.), Cuv. Regne An. i. p. 385 (1817). Passer montanina, Pall. Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat. ii. p. 30 (1826), Pyrgita campestris (Briss.), Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 267 (1881). Passer arboreus, Blyth, Renn. Field Nat. i. p. 467 (1833), The Tree-Sparrow is a much rarer bird than the House-Sparrow, and its distribution is more local. Even in those districts where it is the most common it appears to keep to certain localities. It is commonest during the breeding-season in the central and eastern counties of England, but is found as far north as Northumberland. It appears not to have been found breeding in Wales; but in Scotland, according to Mr. Gray, it is com- moner than is generally supposed. He states that its chief stronghold is in East Lothian. Its breeding-places in Scotland, according to Professor Newton, are in Berwick, Haddington, possibly Clackmannan, Aberdeen, Perth, Elgin, and Sutherland. In the west of Scotland it is very rare; and Mr. Gray states that it cannot with certainty be included in the list of regular migrants. In Ireland this species was unknown until Mr. H. Blake-Knox recorded, in the ‘ Zoologist’ (1870, p. 2018), the fact that it had been obtained in co. Dublin at Dalkey and Baldoyle, where it is believed to be a resident, but scarce. It does not appear to have ever been obtained in the Orkneys or Shetland. <A few pairs visited the Faroes about the year 1869, where, according to Capt. Feilden, they have multi- plied so quickly as to become a pest. The Tree-Sparrow is common, though somewhat local, throughout the Palearctic Region from the Atlantic to the Pacific up to and, in Europe, slightly beyond the Arctic circle. It appears to be very rare in North Africa, and to be absent altogether from Greece, Asia Minor, Pales- tine, Central and Southern Persia, Baluchistan, and India south of the Himalayas ; it is, however, abundant in Turkestan, Afghanistan, and the Himalayas, and is found in suitable localities throughout the rest of Eastern Asia, including Japan, Formosa, Hainan, and Java. The Tree-Sparrow 70 _ BRITISH BIRDS. has several near allies, the nearest apparently being P. rutilans (which is found in Japan, the island of Askold, South China, and Formosa), P. flaveolus and P. assimilis (from the Burmese peninsula) , and P. cinnamomeus (from the Himalayas) ; but from all these it may easily be distinguished by the ear-coverts, which form a triangular black spot surrounded with white. The Tree-Sparrow is said to have been introduced into North America. A study of the habits of the Tree-Sparrow is very interesting, and tends to prove that it is much more remotely related to the Common Sparrow than is popularly supposed. The haunts of the Tree-Sparrow in our islands are chiefly the fields and wilder districts away from houses. It is never seen in the towns, but sometimes approaches the villages, where it associates with the House-Sparrow. On the continent, however, the bird has so far overcome its shyness and adapted itself to circumstances as to frequent the towns, and is quite as pert and impudent as its con- gener, which it otherwise resembles in its habits. The Tree-Sparrow in this country frequents groves of old trees more or less remote from houses, and the banks of sluggish streams that wind along through a lane of pollard willows; it also not unfrequently takes up its residence in the fir-planta- tions near the moorlands, as, for instance, in the High Peak of Derbyshire, where it nests in the rocks. Sometimes a pair of birds will frequent a large and solitary tree in the open fields; and it often takes up its quarters im an old stone-quarry. In this country the Tree-Sparrow is a much shyer bird than the House- Sparrow, otherwise the two species have much in common. It is a much more lively bird. Long residence in towns and its close companionship with man have probably caused the House-Sparrow to become more or less sluggish ; but the Tree-Sparrow is a very active bird, its flight 1s more rapid, and it seems to have more command over itself in the air. It is, of course, very often observed on the ground, where it hops just like the common species; but when in the branches it is often seen to pass from twig to twig with as much ease and rapidity as a Titmouse. It very often keeps company with the House-Sparrow, especially in winter, and may then be seen upon the dunghills and in the farmyards with that bird. It may easily be recognized by its note, which is much more musical and shriller. When observed it appears to become very wary and restless, and often immediately flies off to the nearest cover. It is quite as pugnacious as the House-Sparrow, and several of them will generally join in a scrim- mage, which usually only results in plenty of noise and the loss of a few feathers. The Tree-Sparrow can scarcely lay claim to possess a song; but in the early months of the year it utters a few notes, which are principally modulations of its call-note; but some of them are not unmusical. The Tree-Sparrow is rather a late breeder, its nest usually being com- - TREE-SPARROW. 71 menced in April. The bird may pair for life, for in many cases the same site is tenanted yearly. The Tree-Sparrow is particularly fond of breeding in pollard willows. The hole is usually at the top of the stump, but sometimes in the side. Dixon has found the nest of this bird in the branch of an oak tree. It also nests on isolated houses, such as old barns and. outhouses, making a hole under the thatch, whilst in rarer instances it will build in crevices of rocks, and even, it is said, in walls. Like its relation the House-Sparrow, it is said occasionally to utilize the old nests of Crows and Magpies; and in such a situation the nest is domed. In the majority of cases the nest is cup-shaped and is rather loosely put together. It is made very similarly to that of the House-Sparrow, but is not, per- haps, so bulky, and does not contain such an assortment of rubbish. It is usually made of dry grass, straws, and rootlets, lined with wool, feathers, and sometimes a little hair. The eggs of the Tree-Sparrow are from four to six in number, and vary considerably in colour. The eggs in each clutch are usually pretty uniform in colour, except one egg, which is generally much lighter than the rest. These light-coloured eggs may be the produce of the bird when its colour-producing powers are getting exhausted. The eggs are bluish white in ground-colour; but generally little of this can be seen, for the surface-markings are distributed so finely and evenly over the entire surface as to hide it. The markings vary from rich brown to greyish and greenish brown. On some eggs, especially those which are more boldly and less evenly spotted, the underlying mark- ings are very large and violet-grey. Some eggs are streaked with very dark brown, something like those of the Meadow-Pipit. They vary in length from ‘85 to *73 inch, and in breadth from ‘62 to 54 inch. Tree- Sparrow’s eggs very closely resemble those of the House-Sparrow, but are, on an average, smaller and usually darker and redder. The same types are found in each species; but Tree-Sparrow’s eggs do not seem to vary so much, and the markings are generally more thickly and finely dispersed over the entire surface. The Tree-Sparrow is said to rear as many as three broods in the season; but certainly some pairs of birds never rear more than one. When the nest is disturbed, the old birds, especially if they have young, are very anxious, and uttering their shrill chirping alarm-note, will hop restlessly from branch to branch and approach quite near. The food of the Tree-Sparrow is very similar to that of the House- Sparrow, but consists more of small seeds than grain, and in summer of insects. The young are fed largely on caterpillars. In winter the Tree-Sparrow often wanders far from its usual haunts, and may be observed to mingle with flocks of other birds, and is not un- frequently seen in the stackyards with the House-Sparrow. There can be little doubt that our resident birds are increased in numbers in the 72 BRITISH BIRDS. autumn by migrants from the extreme north. In confirmation of this may be mentioned that a flock of these birds, in November 1860, accord- ing to Mr. Rodd, alighted on a Norwegian vessel when near the English coast. It is said that this flock consisted of many hundreds. Mr. Gray also remarks that in some seasons the eastern counties of Scotland are visited by migratory flocks from Scandinavia. Another flock, in October 1833, settled on a ship as it passed the Norfolk and Suffolk coast, and remained on board until it was almost in the Thames. The Tree-Sparrow is regularly observed in October and November on our east coast, some- times coming in with Greenfinches, and passes Heligoland in some numbers on migration. The Tree-Sparrow is smaller than the House-Sparrow, and may readily be distinguished from that bird by its chestnut head and nape, buffish- brown rump and upper tail-coverts, black ear-coverts surrounded with white, and by the double bar on the wing. Another very interesting distinction between the two birds is that the male and female Tree- Sparrows are almost precisely alike. The colours of the bill, legs, claws, and irides are similar. In the young in first plumage the black parts are brown. The White-throated Sparrow, Zonotrichia albicollis, has been recorded as a British bird on the strength of a female specimen shot near the Broadhill, on Aberdeen Links, on the 17th of August, 1867. The parti- culars were communicated in March 1868 to the Natural History Society of Glasgow, who subsequently published in their ‘ Proceedings’ a full description of the bird, with other details. Without wishing to cast any doubt upon the specimen in question, it is, however, extremely probable that the bird had escaped from confinement; and to admit it into the present work seems scarcely advisable. It has not the remotest claim to be considered a “ British bird,” as the term is generally understood. The White-throated Sparrow is found commonly in North America, where it is a migrant, wintering in the southern portions of that country. adiadtnda a Soty eect fate aoa NIN 5 Prshnatratnginaindinatngm SSS Te. ee Mem Ure wy STI}; way Wy Geen FRINGILLA. 73 Genus FRINGILLA. The genus Fringilla was included by Linneus in 1766 in his ‘ Systema Nature,’ i. p. 817, and the Chaffinch, the Passer fringilla of Brisson, has been almost universally admitted to be the type. Subsequent writers have subdivided this genus into almost as many genera as it contains species ; but there seems to be no reason why the Palearctic species should not remain in the genus in which Linnezus placed them, with the exception, perhaps, of the Sparrows, to whom we may grant generic rank in deference to custom. There appear to be no characters by which the Finches can be satisfac- torily subdivided. The arbitrary selection of any one of them, whether it be the shape of the bill, the general colour of the plumage, or the pattern of colour on the wings and tail, would separate many species which are obviously very closely allied. In this genus the majority of species have the profile of the upper mandible nearly straight; but those species in which it is curved may be distinguished from the genera hitherto treated of by the prevailing colour of the plumage being green and yellow. About 100 species of this genus are known, which are found throughout the New World, but in the Old World are absent from the Australian and Oriental regions. These birds are found in almost every locality, from the mountain- forests to the open plains. Their food consists largely of seeds; but in summer insects and fruit are eaten. Many of these birds possess con- siderable powers of song. They are gregarious in their habits, except in the breeding-season. They build open nests, placing them in trees and bushes at various heights from the ground. Many of the nests belonging to the Finches are elaborately and very beautifully made. Their eggs vary from bluish white to light green in ground-colour, spotted and blotched with brown of different shades and pale grey, with the exception of the Snow-Finches (Montifringilla et Leucosticte, auct.), all of which lay, so | far as is known, pure white eggs. 74 BRITISH BIRDS. FRINGILLA CHLORIS. GREENFINCH. (PiatE 12.) Passer chloris, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 190 (1760); et auctorum plurimorum—(Scopolz), (Latham), (Gmelin), (Bonaparte), (Temminck), (Degland § Gerbe), (Salvador), (Newton), (Dresser), &e. Loxia chloris, Zinn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 804 (1766). Fringilla chloris (Briss.), Meyer, Vog. Inv- und Esthl. p. 76 (1815). Ligurinus chloris (Briss.), Koch, Syst. baer. Zool. p. 230 (1816), Serinus chloris (Briss.), Bote, Isis, 1822, p. 555. Ligurinus chloroticus, Licht. Nomenel. Av. p. 46 (1823). Coccothraustes chloris (Briss.), Steph. Shaw's Gren. Zool. xiv. p. 87 (1826). Chloris flavigaster, Swains. Classif. B. ii. p. 281 (1837). Chlorospiza chioris (Briss.), Bonap. Comp. List B. Eur. § N. Amer. p. 30 (1838). Chlorospiza chlorotica (Licht.), Bonap. Consp. i. p. 514 (1850). Ligurinus aurantiiventris, Cab. Mus. Hein. i, p. 158 (1851). Chloris aurantiiventris (Cab.), Salvin, Ibis, 1859, p. 315. The Greenfinch is a lover of well-cultivated districts, and in such is commonly distributed throughout the British Islands, including the Channel Islands. It is as widely distributed in Scotland as in England, and, according to Mr. Gray, is a permanent resident from north to south. It is found, according to that naturalist, in the Outer Hebrides in such districts as are suited to it; and in many of the inner islands it is equally common. Large flocks of this bird are now often found on the Shetlands, where, within the last few years, it has become a regular winter visitor, though formerly it was very rare there. It is also well known as a winter visitor to the Orkneys, and has occurred on the Faroes several times in winter. In Ireland it is as well distributed and common in suitable dis- tricts as in the rest of the United Kingdom. The Greenfinch breeds throughout Europe, in Norway extending as far north as lat. 65°, and in the Urals as far as lat. 60°. It is also a common resident in North-west Africa, Asia Minor, and the Caucasus, extending into North-west Persia and North-west Turkestan. To Palestine it is only known as a winter visitor; and to Madeira it is only a straggler. Examples from the extreme southern portions of its range are said to be more brilliant in colour and to havea larger bill. They have been de- scribed as distinct under the name of F. chlorotica; but these differences are merely climatic, the colours being most brilliant in examples from districts where the rainfall is small, and dullest in those from moister climates. The Greenfinch does not appear to have any near ally in Central Asia; GREENFINCH. 75 but on the shores of the Pacific two species belonging to the same sub- genus occur, both of which are smaller, and may at once be distinguished by the rich brown colour of the back. The larger of these species, F. kawarahiba, ranges from Kamtschatka to Japan; the smaller, F. sinica,’ is found in the valley of the Lower Amoor, the island of Askold, the main and south islands of Japan, and throughout China. The Greenfinch, of all the British Finches (excepting the Sparrow), is a bird which is perhaps the best known. This is because its favourite haunts are in our gardens, shrubberies, and pleasure-grounds. It is not a bird of the wilds, and away from the localities just mentioned is local and even scarce. It is, however, very common in fields which are bounded by thick hedges or adjoin plantations of spruce-firs. When found in large woods, it is rarely seen far from the borders. It is a resident bird in this country, and in winter its haunts are perhaps a little less confined to the districts above mentioned ; it may then be sometimes seen on the stubbles, near the moorland, in company with Linnets and Twites. The Greenfinch in summer is to a great extent shy and retiring j in its habits, and, like the Bullfinch, it is far more often heard than seen at that season. Its song commences in April, at which time the birds also pair. There is nothing very striking in its music—it is a song which bears some resemblance to that of an inferior Canary; and it is only when several birds are singing in chorus that their notes are at all attractive. In spring half a dozen cock-birds will sometimes be seen in a single tree ; and when they are all warbling together, one against the other, the effect is very harmonious and pleasing. It will warble incessantly through the spring, not so frequently in the nesting-season ; but in autumn its tremulous and chirping song is heard repeatedly from amongst the richly tinted foliage. Its call-note to its mate is a harsh and long-drawn zh; but the common note of a flock as they fly together is a yik, yik, yik, rapidly repeated. Although the Greenfinch cannot be called a gregarious bird in summer, it is a sociable one; and we often find numbers of nests within a small area, sometimes two in the branches of the same tree. I once found two Greenfinches’ nests, which were placed side by side on the branch of a tree in my brother’s garden at Hitchin. Both nests contained eggs. A similar instance is recorded by Mr. Gurney (Zool. 1852, p. 3577). This bird is a rather late breeder, and eggs are seldom laid before the latter end of April. The great breeding-grounds of the Greenfinch are in shrub- beries ; by far the greatest number of its nests are built in evergreen trees and shrubs. It also breeds in whitethorn hedges, in gardens, and more rarely in gorse-thickets. Sometimes it will select a nesting-site fifty feet or more from the ground, in a fork of an elm, or even in a cavity in the trunk. It also builds amongst ivy, both growing on trees and on walls, 76 BRITISH BIRDS. whilst rose-briars are not unfrequently selected as a site. Of evergreens, the yew and the spruce are perhaps most often selected ; whilst fruit-trees are very rarely chosen. The nest is built amongst slender twigs, some- times very loosely, and occasionally it is placed in a fork, or simply built on the flat bough of ayew. Mr. Maurice C. H. Bird writes to inform me that he knew a nest of this bird at Poxwell, in Dorset, in 1880, built in a hollow at the top of a gatepost. Few nests are prettier than that of a Greenfinch. It is not so neat as the nest of a Goldfinch or a Chaffinch ; but its very slovenliness is the secret of its beauty. The outside is made of moss, dry grass, and wool, through which a few slender twigs are often entwined; the inside is lined first with moss, and then with hair, feathers, and wool. Some nests are much more elaborately constructed than others ; and Dixon has known them built entirely of new-mown hay, without any lining whatever. The Greenfinch takes but little trouble to conceal its nest; but the peculiarities of the site selected render it almost invisible except to the closest scrutiny. The eggs of the Greenfinch are from four to six in number, and vary from pale greenish white to white with the faintest tinge of blue in ground-colour. The markings are usually almost confined to the larger end, and are purplish-brown spots, blotches, and more rarely streaks, with underlying spots of pinkish brown. As a rule, there are as many underlying markings as surface ones; but in some eggs the former predominate. They do not vary much, but some are very boldly streaked, whilst others have the markings in a confluent zone round the end of the egg; and my friend Mr. J. H. Gurney, Jun., writes to me that he had a nest of this bird in his garden in which the eggs were un- spotted—certainly a very exceptional occurrence. They vary in length from ‘9 to °72 inch, and in breadth from °62 to ‘53 inch. The eggs of the Greenfinch very closely resemble those of the Goldfinch and Linnet ; and small specimens are indistinguishable from large eggs of the two latter species. ‘They also resemble those of the Crossbill so closely that it is almost impossible to distinguish them ; but, as a rule, they are perhaps smaller in size. The Greenfinch is one of those birds that sometimes sit upon their first egg as soon as it is laid. When the nest is menaced by danger the old birds often become extremely anxious, and glide about from branch to branch above the intruder’s head, uttering their plaintive alarm- note; and should the nest contain young, the female will approach still closer, and by every action and cry show her anxiety. The duties of incubation are performed by the female; but the male is seldom far away from the nest. The young are tended some time after they quit the nest, when they are abandoned, and the old birds mostly rear another, and in some cases perhaps even a third, brood. In early summer these young Greenfinches congregate into flocks and little parties, which chiefly frequent the grass-fields, in company very often - GREENFINCH. 77 with Sparrows. ‘They may be seen hovering above the grass, catching the small flies, but chiefly feeding upon the seeds of the grasses. As the year advances, and the grain-fields assume their golden tints, these flocks of Greenfinches are joined by the old birds, together with those of the later broods. In winter Greenfinches flock in company with Buntings, and frequent the newly sown fields. At this season they flock in considerable numbers to the shrubberies to roost, and sometimes, ere they settle, per- form various wheeling motions in the air. The flight of the Greenfinch is undulating ; and although the bird is somewhat heavy-looking, it has no small power over itself in the air. The Greenfinch is, like most other Finches, partly granivorous and partly imsectivorous. The bird feeds almost as much on grain as the Sparrow, and would be equally as destructive to the crops if its numbers were at all proportionate. But the amount of noxious seeds this bird devours is enormous, and amply repays any trifling loss of grain the farmer may suffer. It does not appear to feed so much on fruit as the Sparrow; but it will eat several kinds of berries, and is fond of the buds of trees. In winter it often makes its appearance in the stackyard, and is frequently flushed in straggling parties from the stubbles, where the objects of its search are small seeds of various kinds. The Greenfinch is a resident bird in this country; but its numbers are increased in autumn by large flocks from the continent, which make their appearance principally on the eastern and southern coasts. It has often been observed that a considerable separation of the sexes takes place in winter; but this is not so marked as that which takes place with the Chaffinch. The birds of the year and the females flock together, with only a sprinkling of old males, whilst other and smaller flocks are composed almost entirely of old males. These flocks do not break up sometimes until very late in the year; and Mr. Cordeaux remarks that he has seen them feeding on the marshes of the Humber in the first week of June. The Greenfinch is frequently kept in confinement, and is said to be more hardy than most birds; but its powers of song are never great, and it learns slowly. Greenfinches are often crossed with Canaries ; and hybrids of this bird and the Brown or Common Linnet are sometimes caught in a wild state. A hybrid of this description will be more fully noticed in the article on the Linnet. The adult male Greenfinch has the general colour of the plumage brigh yellowish green, brightest on the rump, and shading into slate-grey on the flanks and lower belly, and into yellowish white on the under tail-coverts. The crown, the sides of the head and neck, the throat and breast, the margins of the secondaries and greater wing-coverts are more or less slate- grey; the wings are brownish black, the basal half of the outer web of the primaries broadly margined with bright yellow. All the two central 78 BRITISH BIRDS. tail-feathers and the terminal half of the rest are blackish brown, bordered with slate-grey; the remaining portion of the latter feathers is bright yellow. Bill fleshy pink ; legs, toes, and claws pale brown; irides hazel. The female is much duller in colour than the male, and browner; but the pattern of colour on the wings and tail is the same, although the yellow is not so brilliant. Young birds in nestling-plumage resemble the female, and have the yellow on the wings and tail. After the first moult the young males gain the adult plumage. After the autumn moult the feathers have pale margins, which conceal much of the bright tints of the plumage. A specimen of the Nonpareil Finch, Cyanospiza ciris, was taken alive in 1802 on Portland Island, and was recorded by Montagu under the name of ‘‘ White-winged Grosbeak,” in the Supplement to his ‘ Ornitho- logical Dictionary’ (1813). It had evidently escaped from confinement. It is an inhabitant of Central and North America, and, as a land-bird purely confined to the New World, requires no further mention here. NEST OF GREENFINCH, CANARY. 79 FRINGILLA CANARIA. ° CANARY. (Pirate 12.)* Passer serinus canarius, Briss. Orn, ili. p. 184 (1760). Fringilla canaria, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 321 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum— Gmelin, Latham, (Bonaparte), (Godman), (Dresser), &c. Carduelis canaria (Linn.), Less. Traité d’ Orn. p. 443 (1831). Crithagra canaria (Linn.), Swains. Classif. B. ii. p. 294 (1837). Serinus canarius (Linn.), Cab. Mus. Hein. i. p. 163 (1850). Dryospiza canaria (Linn.), Gray, Hand-l, B. ii. p. 83 (1870). The first alleged occurrence of the Canary in our islands in a wild state rests on the authority of Mr. Swaysland, who states that at least fifty years ago he caught one in his father’s net early one morning in April near Brighton. It wasa bird of remarkably rapid flight, and when it was caught it turned sharp and flew into the net with the rapidity of a Hawk. He further states that the actions of the bird, when it was transferred to a cage, were extremely wild. : There can be little doubt that the Canary is an accidental visitor to the British Islands. Birds indistinguishable from the wild Canary of the Azores, and having no appearance of ever having been in confinement, are occa- sionally caught by the bird-catchers in the neighbourhood of London. Mr. Boud has an example thus obtained in his collection ; and Mr. Bartlett informs me that at least four examples have passed through his hands. Other specimens have been obtained near Brighton. The number of birds passing along the coast in autumn on migration is almost fabulous; they are caught with clap-nets. A bird-catcher told me that he once caught three thousand Greenfinches in a fortnight near Brighton, and that he was sure that he did not catch more than one in a hundred of the birds that flew over. In October, on the cliffs between Brighton and Shoreham, and between Brighton and Newhaven, a hundred pairs of nets are set every morning; and it is not an uncommon thing for one man to catch a hundred, and on special occasions, with a north-east wind, five or six hundred Greenfinches and Linnets in a morning. Amongst the thousands of common birds which are caught in this way, an occasional rare bird occurs, and is offered to Mr. Swaysland for sale. Every two or three years a wild Canary is brought to his shop; and examples thus obtained are in the collections of Mr..Monk, Lord Clifton, Major Spicer * The small egg of the Greenfinch figured on this Plate is an exact duplicate of an ege of the Canary. 80 BRITISH BIRDS. of Chippenham, near Bath, the Rev. Hugh A. Macpherson of Carlisle, and others. Mr. G. Dawson Rowley exhibited one at a meeting of the Zoological Society of London (see Proc. Zool. Soc. 1870, p. 53), which was taken on the 20th of November, 1869. Many others have, no doubt, been overlooked. Some have been passed over as small Greenfinches, others have been recorded as Serin Finches, whilst the committee of the ‘This’ list of British Birds admit that they are often met with m England, but assume that they have in all cases escaped from captivity. The wild Canary is, however, such a very rare bird in cages in England, and escaped birds of the tame Canary are so rarely caught, that we cannot accept this theory of their origin. None of the examples of British-killed Canaries which I have seen show any of those marks of confinement which can usually be detected in the state of the feet and tail of caged birds, and the more probable explanation is that they are birds which have been driven over by south-westerly gales from Maderia or the Azores. Mr. Godman, in speaking of these islands, says that “ scarcely a storm occurs in spring or autumn without bringing one or more species foreign to the islands,” and enumerates Swallows, Larks, &c. among them. There can therefore be no insuperable difficulty in stragglers from the Azores reaching our shores. The Canary is abundant on most of the Canary Islands, on Madeira, and throughout the Azores. It breeds not only in the gardens of the large towns, but also in the pine-forest up to an elevation of six thousand feet ; and after the breeding-season is over the Canaries collect in large flocks and may be seen flying from one island to another. It is not to be wondered at that they are sometimes carried away by storms to the main- land. The Canary is the island form of the Seri. In its habits it closely resembles other Finches, and after the breeding-season frequents the fields, where it is said to be very destructive to the flax. Like the Greenfinch and Goldfinch, the Canary appears to have a liking for gardens, even frequenting those in the middle of towns ; and it is also common in the vineyards, and in the little swampy places which are left as the sole remnants of the streams that flow im winter. It also inhabits the pine- woods on the mountains, and breeds in them, coming down to the plains in winter. It is a somewhat early breeder, commencing nest-building in the latter part of March. The nesting-site is usually selected in some evergreen tree or shrub, placed at a considerable height from the ground, and is seldom below eight feet. A nest of this bird found by Dr. Bolle was built in the fork of a box-tree about twelve feet high, growing out of a myrtle hedge. This nest was described by him as being broad at the base, narrow at the top, and very neatly built of snow-white cotton-plant CANARY. 81 mixed with a few dry grass-stems. The eggs are four or five in number, bluish green in ground-colour, spotted and speckled with reddish brown ; they measure about ‘8 inch in length, and about °55 inch in breadth. According to Dr. Bolle the Canary will rear as many as four broods in the season, but sometimes only three. The female alone performs the duties of incubation, and the male may often be seen perched on a bush or tree near at hand warbling forth his song. The song of the Canary is too well known to need description; but it seems that domestication has increased the beauty of its notes, for it is said that birds in confinement possess a better song than those in a wild state. After the breeding-season the birds unite into flocks, and search for food in company. When alarmed they fly off in a straggling train like Linnets, continually calling to each other as they go. Their flight is very similar to that of the Linnet, and is usually only prolonged from tree to tree ; they are, however, capable of taking long flights; and Mr. Godman remarks that on the island of Fayal the birds congregate towards evening near a small hill, and cross ina body to the island of Pico. In their habits at nightfall they very closely resemble Bramblings, and at the selected roosting-place are very noisy. The food of the Canary consists of seeds of various kinds, and fruits, especially figs, of which it is said to be very fond. There can be little doubt that it also feeds on insects, as all other Finches doubtless do more or less. From the beginning of the sixteenth century the Canary has been a highly-prized cage-bird, and is still as popular as ever. In Germany it is in even higher repute than in this country ; it is the favourite cage-bird ; and great numbers are bred there every year, as well as in England. Canary-breeding has almost reached the dignity of a science; its devotees have their societies and their shows, and the perfection of breeding and the varieties obtained by judicious intercrossing are most remarkable. Many wild birds are still caught on their rocky isolated retreats, and scarcely a person visits the islands without bringing away with him a bird or two under the delusion that they are real souvenirs of the place. But by far the greater number brought from the islands yearly are not native: the demand far exceeds the supply; and tame-bred birds are actually imported from England and Germany and sold there as natives. Wild birds, it is said, do not bear confinement well, and do not breed so freely as those bred in cages. In confinement the female sometimes sings as sweetly as the male. The wild Canary is quite a different-looking bird from that usually seen in cages. It has the crown yellowish green, narrowly streaked with blackish brown ; the feathers of the back and the upper tail-coverts are blackish brown, broadly margined with grey, and marked with olive-green ; VOL. II. G 82 BRITISH BIRDS. forehead and rump bright yellowish green ; wing-coverts blackish brown, tipped and margined with olive-green. The whole of the underparts are golden yellow, shading into almost white on the under tail-coverts, and the flanks are striped with blackish brown. Bull ight brown ; legs, feet, and claws fleshy brown; irides hazel. The female is much duller than the male, and has much less golden yellow in the plumage; the crown is grey, streaked with blackish ; and the underparts are buffy white, yellower on the throat and breast. English examples have obscure grey margins to the yellow feathers, and the margins to the feathers of the back are brown instead of grey, which appears to be characteristic of autumn plumage, or that of birds of the year. I have not had an opportunity of comparing them with birds in autumn plumage from the islands, SERIN FINCH. 83 FRINGILLA SERINUS. SERIN FINCH. (PiatE 12.) Passer serinus, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 179 (1760). Fringilla serinus, Zinn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 320 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum— (Gmelin), (Latham), (Temminck), (Gray), (Miiller), (Schlegel), (Degland), (Bree), (Elwes § Buckley), (Danford § Harvie- Brown), (Brehm), (Homeyer), (Schalow), (Blasius), (Reichenow), &e. Loxia serinus (Lriss.), Scop. Ann. I. Hist. Nat. p. 140 (1769). Serinus hortulanus, Koch, Syst. baier. Zool. i. p. 229 (1816). Serinus flavescens, Goud, B. Eur. pl. 194 (1837). Pyirhula (Dryospiza) serinus (Briss.), Keys. u. Blas. Wirb. Eur. p. xli (1840). Pyrrhula serinus (Briss.), Degland, Orn. Eur. i. p. 192 (1849). Crithagra serinus (Briss.), Heugl. Orn. N.O.-Afr. i. p. 647 (1871). Serinus luteolus, Homeyer, Journ. Orn. 1873, p. 223. The evidence in support of the opinion that the Serin is an accidental visitor to our shores rests on no better foundation than that which can be adduced in support of the claim of the Canary to be so considered. It is said that a Serin was caught near Portsmouth in April 1852, another at Taunton in 1866, and a third at Worthing in 1869; but by far the greater number are those brought by the Brighton bird-catchers to Mr. Swaysland. Rarely a year passes without two or three being thus obtained, although it sometimes happens that none are caught for a couple of years. Some ornithologists have supposed that these birds have escaped from confine- ment, alleging that these captures have become much commoner since the Serin was appreciated as a cage-bird in this country; whilst others have doubted the good faith of both the captors and the vendors. So many frauds have been attempted on collectors that scepticism has become a virtue in ornithologists. In the present case, however, I see no reason to doubt the veracity of those concerned, or to question the occa- sional visits of the Serin to our islands. The wonders of Heligoland were at first doubted by distinguished ornithologists: now we ask whether the Serin has occurred on Heligoland, and finding that it has we accept the fact as strong evidence of its having also occurred in this country. On the continent the range of the Serin is remarkably restricted, being confined to Europe, west of Russia, and to North Africa. To the north of France, Belgium, and the north of Germany the Serin is an acci- dental visitor, as it is to the south of England. It breeds in Central and Southern France, Luxembourg, Switzerland, South Germany, Austria, and Turkey; and in all these countries a few remain during the winter. In Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, and Asia Minor it is a resident, breeding G2 - 84 BRITISH BIRDS. principally in the mountains, and having its numbers largely increased during winter by migrants from the north. Great numbers winter im Palestine and Egypt; and in the west of North Africa it not only winters in considerable numbers, but a few remain to breed. There seems to be no account of the habits of the Serm except that of the great German ornithologist, Naumann; and I translate the following from his ‘Birds of Germany :’—“‘ It prefers to live m hilly cultivated districts, and is much rarer in the plains. It takes up its quarters chiefly in the orchards, in plantations, or avenues of fruit- and walnut-trees, in vineyards,. . . . and even in gardens in the middle of villages or cluse by houses. .... The male is most restless and joyous in fine spring weather ; he calls and sings continually from the tops of the trees, and delights to bound from one to the other in singular flight, sometimes hovering or rising and falling with trembling wings. His usual flight resembles that of the Siskin and similar birds and is very rapid; it would have nothing extraordinary about it if the birds did not attract attention by their peculiar voice during flight. . . . . Its song is very agreeable, clear as a bell,.... more like that of the Siskin than that of the Canary, with which it has been compared. When singing it is always perched high on the topmost spray of the tree or on a high branch..... It not only sings on the wing, as described, but sometimes springs from the top of a tree like a Tree- Pipit, almost perpendicularly, smging, then descends and continues its song on the same ora neighbouring spray... . . It feeds, like its congeners, on small seeds of various plants, especially those cultivated in gardens, or such as grow wild in vineyards and on the roadside, chiefly such as are oleaginous..... It shells all the seeds, and rejects the husks.” When I was in Dresden with Mr. Sclater and Mr. Forbes, we found the Serin very common in the Zoological Gardens outside the town. One of these little birds was singing from almost every clump of trees. It isa charming, delicate, little song, very much like that of the Siskin, but richer and more varied. Compared with the song of a Canary or a Nightingale, it might be called weak and monotonous; but I was charmed with its clearness and richness. The call-note is not unlike that of the Canary, and resembles the word sweet. Henke reintroduced me to the Seri in the charming little village where he lives in Saxon Switzerland, and took me to an orchard where he showed me a pair of birds busily engaged in building a nest on the branch of a pear-tree. He told me that it was only during the last twenty years that the Serin had become common near Dresden. Other ornithologists have noticed the recent increase in the numbers of this species in various localities. This is probably to be explained by supposing that previously the numbers had been very much lessened by an unusually hard winter or a heavy and sudden fall of snow, and that it has taken years before the natural increase - SERIN FINCH. 85 has restored them to their usual abundance. Small birds, like the Dartford. Warbler, which winter north of Central Europe, are sometimes almost exterminated in some localities by bad weather. Dixon met with this bird in Algeria, and writes as follows :—~ We did not meet with this charming little bird until we arrived in the most tropical portion of Algeria—in the palm-oases of El Kantara and Biskra. It is a bird that appears to love the richest districts, and we never met with it in the pine- and cedar-forests on the Aurés. In the oases the birds inhabited the luxuriant gardens, the groves of fig-trees, and were seen amongst the apricot-trees and wealth of shrubs bountifully clothed in the fairest of blooms. But amongst this semitropical verdure the Serin is difficult to see, and you only catch a hasty glimpse of it as it appears on the outer- most branches for a moment and then disappears again. Amongst the date-palms, however, it is very conspicuous. There is little or no under- wood beneath these trees, and the bird perches exclusively upon them. It was seen sitting on the topmost point of the broad leaves, sixty feet from the ground, whence it occasionally took a little fluttering flight into the air to catch an insect from the swarms flitting round the tree-tops. Allthe Finches in summer-time are more or less insectivorous, and the little Serin is no exception ; indeed it seems most industrious in its search after insects, not only flitting into the air but occasionally clinging to the stems of the palm trees, as if searching for its food amongst the rugged bark. We repeatedly saw it, too, upon the tops of the walls that divide the Arab gardens ; but it was always rather shy, and after a moment or two’s rest flew off to its usual refuge, the tops of the date-palms. Although it must have been its breeding-season (May), we never heard it utter any song—only its sweet and somewhat plaintive little call-note.” The nest of the Serin, though very loosely made of short slender stalks and roots, held together with thistle-down, spider’s web, and bits of wool or cotton, is very carefully and neatly constructed. There is no special lining, except that the proportion of soft material is greater imside than outside. The outside diameter is only about 2? inches, and that of the inside only 12 mches; the depth is little more than an inch. Naumann says that hair and feathers are used in the lining; but the nests I have seen have never contained either. The nest is generally built m fruit-trees, but frequently in other small trees and shrubs. Five is the usual number of eggs, but sometimes there are only four. They are on an average smaller than those of the Goldfinch or Siskin, but are indistinguishable from them, being subject to the same variations of colour. The length ranges from ‘65 to ‘6 inch, and the breadth from ‘5 to 45 inch. The ground-colour is very pale bluish green, more or less spotted and blotched and occasionally streaked, chiefly at the large end, with dark reddish-brown overlying spots and pale reddish-brown underlying ones. 86 BRITISH BIRDS. The Serin is a miniature Canary, and though much more streaked on the flanks scarcely differs from that species except in size and proportion. The wing of the Canary is about 2°9 inches in length, whilst that of the Serin is about 2°8, and it is probable that large examples of the latter have a wing as long as small examples of the former. The difference in the length of the respective tails of the two birds is, however, much more important: that of the Siskin is under 2 inches, whilst that of the Canary is over 2} inches. The Serin bears some superficial resemblance to the Siskin; but the black crown of the male of the latter and the yellow bases of the tail- feathers in both sexes are sufficient to distinguish them. The shape of the bill is also quite different. In the Serin the profile of the bill shows an arched instead of a nearly straight upper mandible, and seen from above it represents a cone with convex instead of concave sides. Some ornitho- logists, whose apparent object has been to introduce as much confusion as possible into our nomenclature, have placed these convex-billed birds in a separate genus, which they call Serinus. Besides the Canary and the Serin, it contains Tristram’s Serin (Fringilla canonicus) and the Red-fronted Finch (Ff. pusilla). The former is a local race of the Canary which is resident in Palestine, and differs from it in being somewhat yellower and less striated both above and below; the latter is a resident in Asia Minor, the Caucasus, Persia, Turkestan, and Cashmere, and is somewhat distantly related to the Serin, from which it may at once be distinguished by its black throat and the orange-red instead of yellow pre- vailing tints of the plumage. In the adult male Serin in breeding-plumage the forehead, a line over each eye, the rump, the throat, breast, and belly are bright yellow; the feathers of the rest of the upper parts and the flanks are dark brown, mar- gined with yellow ; the greater and median wing-coverts are dark brown tipped with yellow, and the wings and tail-feathers are brown margined with yellow ; the under tail-coverts are nearly white. Bill dark horn, paler at the base of the lower mandible; legs, feet, and claws pale brown ; irides dark brown. The female is slightly duller in colour than the male, and after the autumn moult the yellow feathers, especially of the head, have buff margins. A specimen of the Yellow-rumped Seed-eater (Crithagra chrysopyga) was recorded as a British bird im the ‘ Naturalist’ for 1853 (p. 20) by Mr. W. Hazel; it is said to have been taken near Portsmouth. There can scarcely be a doubt that the bird had escaped from confinement, having been brought to that port by some vessel from the West-African coast, where it is a native. GOLDFINCH. 87 FRINGILLA CARDUELIS. GOLDFINCH. (Puate 12.) Carduelis carduelis, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 53 (1760); et auctorum plurimorum— (Gmelin), (Latham), (Pennant), (Montagu), (Bewick), (Temminck), (Gray), (Naumann), (Danford § Harvie-Brown), (Finsch), &e. Fringilla carduelis, Linn, Syst. Nat. i. p. 318 (1766). Emberiza carduelis (Briss.), Scop. Ann. I. Hist. Nat. p. 144 (1769). Acanthis carduelis (Briss.), Bechst. Naturg. Deutschl. p. 199 (1807). Spinus carduelis (Briss.), Koch, Syst. bater. Zool. i. p. 233 (1816). Passer carduelis (Briss.), Pall. Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat. ii. p. 15 (1826). Carduelis elegans, Steph. Shaw's Gen. Zool. xiv. p. 80 (1826). Carduelis aurata, Eyton, Cat. Brit. B. p. 20 (1836). The Goldfinch is locally distributed throughout England, breeding in suitable districts in probably every county, with the exception of Northumberland, where Mr. Hancock states that it must only be con- sidered an accidental visitor. It is also not uncommon in the Channel Islands, and, according to Mr. Cecil Smith, breeds in all of them. In Scotland its distribution is more local than in England, but it is neverthe- less found in most if not all of the counties; but it does not appear ever to visit the Orkneys and Shetland. In Mr. Gray’s opinion this charming little bird is decreasing in numbers in Scotland; and this is also said to be the case in many parts of England. In Ireland it is decidedly local, and though found in most parts of the country, its distribution is confined to certain favoured districts. The Goldfinch breeds throughout Europe, in Norway as far north as lat. 65°, but in the Ural Mountains only as far north as lat.60°. North of St. Petersburg it is extremely rare, and its alleged occurrence at Archangel appears to be supported by insufficient evidence. In the extreme north of its range it is a partial migrant. It is a resident in the Canary Islands, Madeira, and North-west Africa, but to Egypt it is only a winter visitor. It has been found in Palestine, and is a resident in Asia Minor and Persia. In South Siberia it has been found from Omsk to Krasnoyarsk, and as far south as the Altai Mountains. It is only a winter visitor to Turkestan. Examples obtained east of the Ural Mountains are large and nearly white on the rump and flanks, and have been described as specifically distinct under the name of F. major. There can, however, be scarcely any doubt that these two forms interbreed, as at Krasnoyarsk F. major is found interbreeding with a more distant ally, F. caniceps, which differs in having no black on the crown and nape, and in having much more white on the wing. This subspecies ranges southwards to the Altai Mountains and westwards to 88 BRITISH BIRDS. Afghanistan, the North-west Himalayas, and Turkestan. A variety of the Goldfinch having the throat white has been obtained at Pesth, and has been described under the name of C. albogularis; but further information is necessary to prove that this variation is constant. Although this charming little bird loves to dwell in the richest parts of the country, it is most common on those little pieces of waste land which, in spite of “ high farming,” are still left in their primeval state to grow thistles and docks and other rank weeds in abundance. The Goldfinch is an attendant upon the slovenly farmer who does not make use of his “ odd corners”’ and is not very careful about his hedgerows ; but on those farms where scarcely a weed is left to grow the bird is rarely seen. It does not affect the deep woods like some Finches, nor does it frequent the pine- and fir-woods. It may often be seen in country orchards, and appears to have a partiality for the neighbourhood of houses, and near them it most commonly builds its nest. It is a very active little bird, almost as much so as a Titmouse or a Willow- Wren. Dixon made the following notes on this bird :—“ The Goldfinch is one of the commonest and most widely spread birds in Algeria. It haunts the palm-studded oases, the orange-groves, fig- and prickly-pear gardens, even on the borders of the Great Desert, just as much as the luxuriant forest country of the Aurés. It is not, however, a bird of the wilderness ; it inhabits the cultivated districts, especially the Arab gardens, building its nest in their fruit-trees and warbling incessantly from the sprays of bloom. T never in any place saw the Goldfinch so common as at Oued Taga, the mountain home of the Kaid of the Aurés, lying at an elevation of probably 4000 feet above the sea. The gardens at this Arab settlement were full of them. I often counted three or four in the same tree, and the air was made resonant with their charming song. They were not at all shy; the Arab never molests them; and they breed in his apple-trees in abundance. I often. saw them upon the ground, and searching the twigs and branches of the trees as if looking for insects, which probably form their staple food in the summer months. In the oases the Goldfinch does not appear to affect the palm trees like the Serm Finch, but is especially fond of the luxuriant gardens gay with flowers and literally buried in an exuberance of greenest foliage. Here they nest in the apricot- and fig-trees ; and at El Kantara in May a pair were making their neat little home in a fork of a lemon-tree almost within arm’s length of the windows of the ‘ Hétel d’El Kantara,’ as the tiny little French caravansérai is ambitiously named.” The song of the Goldfinch is almost as loud and sweet as that of the Linnet, and is commenced almost before the winter is over, being some- times heard as early as the beginning of March, and it will continue through the summer (in the latter part less frequently) till the moulting- season in August. The ordinary call-note of this bird is a sharp and - GOLDFINCH. 89 quickly repeated twit or twit-it. It is incessantly uttering this note, both when flying through the air and as it sits on or clings to the tall stems of thistles and other weeds. The call-note of the male to the female sounds something like the word eaglet. It is not improbable that the Goldfinch in many cases pairs for life. In the depth of winter the birds are often seen in pairs, and as the spring advances the little parties break up and in pairs search out their nesting- sites. The bird at this season often takes up its quarters in a garden or an orchard, sometimes in a grove quite near to a house, where it remains until its young are strong upon the wing. ‘The site usually selected for the nest is in an apple- or a pear-tree, especially the former; and a branch which is covered with moss or lichen is generally preferred. The bird will also build in a chestnut- or a beech tree, sometimes at the extremity of a long drooping branch, and when in such a situation it is often quite in- accessible. It less frequently selects a site in a whitethorn hedge or in the evergreens in a shrubbery. It is one of the commonest birds in the lower valleys of the Parnassus, and breeds in great numbers in the olive-trees between the site of the temple of Apollo at Delphi and the Gulf of Lepanto, especially in the village gardens. ‘The nest is a charming piece of bird- architecture. It is much smaller than that of the Chaffinch, but is to a certain extent made on the same model. It usually measures from 1+ to 2 inches in inside diameter, and is about 1 inch deep. It is often made of moss, lichens, vegetable down, fine roots, and grass-stems, and lined plentifully with feathers and down and a few long hairs. Nests taken in Greece and Asia Minor were almost entirely made of stems of a plant with round flat seed-cases attached, strengthened by rootlets and lined with vegetable down. Some nests are almost entirely made of down and bits of worsted with a few roots, without any feathers. The eges of the Goldfinch are four or five in number, and are laid by the middle of May. ‘They are greenish white in ground-colour, spotted and streaked with purplish brown and with underlying markings of violet- grey. The spots vary considerably in intensity of colour, and on some eggs are almost black. Some specimens are only scratched and indis- tinctly marked with reddish brown, others are almost spotless. The larger end of the egg is usually the most spotted, where the markings form an irregular zone. Some eggs are much more boldly streaked than others, and the streaks are longer. The eggs vary in length from ‘7 to ‘62 inch, and in breadth from ‘53 to ‘48 inch. Goldfinch’s eggs can generally be distinguished from Linnet’s and Greenfinch’s, which they much resemble in colour, by their smaller size ; whilst from those of the Lesser Redpole they are easily told by their much lighter ground-colour. From those of the Citril Finch, Serm, and Siskin they are indistinguishable, except in perhaps being blunter and a trifle larger. 90 BRITISH BIRDS. The food of the Goldfinch is composed principally of insects and their larvee in summer ; but in winter this bird is almost, if not quite, granivorous, At this season it feeds on seeds of various kinds, especially on those of the dock and the thistle; it also eats those of the dandelion, chickweed, groundsel, and plantain. In winter the birds are often seen in small parties, sometimes in large flocks, which are ever wandering about in search of food. No frost or snow, however severe, seems to inconvenience this charming little bird, for it can always find plenty of food on the tall weeds that tower high above the deepest snow. It is a very pretty sight to see a party of Goldfinches searching for food, especially when the ground is covered deep in snow. You may approach them quite closely and they will take but little heed of your presence. You may watch how deftly they poise on the thistle-heads or cling, sometimes head downwards, to the bushy docks. Beneath the plants the husks are thickly strewed upon the snow, and betray the recent presence of these charming creatures in the locality. They are very restless birds and do not stay long in one place; they are incessantly flittimg on and on, from one stem to another, in drooping jerking flight, and the air is filled with their clear twittering notes. A considerable number of Goldfinches remain with us throughout the winter; but most of them go southwards in autumn, in company with migrants from North Europe that pass our islands. Our Goldfinches appear to fly south until they strike the coast, which they follow, “ cuddling the cliffs,’ until the narrowest part of the Channel is reached near Dover, where they start for the continent. The wholesale capture of this bird is no doubt one of the causes of its decrease in numbers. Mr. Swaysland states that near Brighton a hoy could formerly catch as many as forty dozen of these birds in a single morning ; but this wholesale work soon perceptibly thinned the ranks of the Goldfinch, and the bird is now comparatively rare. ‘The Goldfinch is in great request as a cage-bird, and may be taught many tricks; it is also used considerably by Canary-breeders to cross with that bird. The Goldfinch has a black band from the centre of the crown of the head, which meets on the nape a similar black band reaching half- way round the neck. The feathers at the base of the bill and the lores are black ; the forehead and throat are rich scarlet ; the rest of the upper parts are reddish brown, shading into white on the upper tail-coverts; a patch on the nape and the sides of the head and the underparts below the throat are dull white, shading into buffy brown on the breast and flanks ; the wings are black, broadly barred with yellow and tipped with white ; the tail is black, the two outer feathers on each side (occasionally the three outer feathers) have a spot of white on the inner web and the rest are tipped with white. Bill pinkish white, darkest at the tip; legs and feet fleshy GOLDFINCH. 9] brown, claws dark brown ; irides brown. The female resembles the male, but is duller; the red parts are not so pure and not so much developed. Young in first plumage have no black and red on the head; the wings and tail are similar to the adult, except that the white spots are replaced by buff; the underparts are much browner, and the breast is indistinctly spotted. The red and black plumage on the head is assumed after the first autumn moult. The autumn plumage of the Goldfinch differs but very slightly from that of spring; some of the black feathers have pale edges, and the red on the head is not so intense in colour. NEST OF GOLDFINCH, 92 BRITISH BIRDS. FRINGILLA SPINUS. SISKIN. (Puate 12.) Carduelis ligurinus, Briss. Orn. iii. p, 65 (1760). Fringilla spinus, Zinn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 822 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum— Gmelin, Scopoli, Latham, Temminck, (Bonaparte), (Degland § Gerbe), (Dresser), (Newton), &e. Emberiza spinus (Linn.), Scop. Ann. I. Hist. Nat. p. 145 (1769). Fringilla fasciata, Mill. Natursyst. Suppl. p. 165 (1776). Linaria spinus (Linn.), Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. Se. Brit. Mus. p. 15 (1816). Spinus viridis, Koch, Syst. baier. Zool. i. p. 235 (1816). Serinus spinus (Linn.), Bote, Isis, 1822, p. 555. Passer spinus (Linn.), Pall. Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat. ii. p. 16 (1826). Carduelis spinus (Linn.), Steph. Shaw's Gen. Zool. xiv. i. p. 83 (1826). Chrysomitris spinus (Linn.), Bote, Isis, 1828, p. 322. Fringilla (Acanthis) spinus (Zinn.), Keys. u. Blas. Wirb, Eur. p. xli (1840). Spinus vulgaris, Goebel, Journ. Orn. 1873, p. 15. Chrysomitris dybowskii, Taczanowsky, Journ. Orn, 1876, p. 199. In England and Wales the Siskin is principally known as a winter visitor, and is at that season more or less commonly distributed throughout the country, becoming rarer in the extreme south-west. To the Channel Islands it is only known as a rare straggler. Its occurrence in summer in England is very exceptional; and the instances of its remaining im this country to breed are few, although it is quite possible more remain than is generally supposed. From the evidence to be gleaned upon the subject, there can be little doubt that the Siskin has bred in the counties of Kent, Surrey, Dorset, Sussex, Middlesex, Oxford, Gloucester, Denbigh, Bedford, Derby, York, Westmoreland, and Durham. In Scotland the bird is much commoner than in England, and breeds regularly in many localities, according to Mr. Gray chiefly in the eastern counties. In the west of Scotland, with the exception of Argyleshire and Sutherlandshire (in which latter county it is said to be a resident), it is known as a winter visitor. It has not yet been met with in Orkney, but is a scarce winter visitor to Shetland. In Ireland it is best known as a winter visitor to most suitable districts. Although Thompson suggested that the bird may occasionally breed in Wicklow and other localities im the north, it was not until 1871 that a nest was found in that county. An account of this was contributed to the ‘ Zoologist’ for 1874 (p. 8915) by Mr. Barrington, in whose grounds it was discovered. A second nest was also found by this gentleman in the same county, and particulars concerning it furnished to the same periodical for 1876 (p. 4957). SISKIN. 93 The Siskin breeds in the pine-woods of Northern and Central Europe, in Norway ranging as far north as lat. 67°, in Russia as far as Arch- angel, and in the Urals up to about lat. 58°. It also breeds in some of the mountainous districts of Southern Europe, as, for instance, near Florence and in the Caucasus. Its winter range is much more extensive ; and at this season it is also found in the Spanish peninsula, the plains of Austria, Turkey, Greece, Asia Minor, and South Russia. It is also a rare winter visitor to North-west Africa, and occasionally strays as far as the Canaries and Teneriffe. Hast of the Ural Mountains the Siskin has not been found until we reach the shores of the Pacific, where it breeds in the Lower Amoor and Japan, passes through North China on migration, and winters in South China as far as Foochow. Whether this is a case of discontinuous area of distribution is very difficult to say; for possibly the bird may have been overlooked in the intervening country, although it is scarcely probable that Dybowsky during his long residence near Lake Baikal could have missed it. Nor has the Siskin ever been met with in India, being there apparently replaced by F. spinoides, a species confined to the Himalayas, and easily distinguished from our bird by its dark greenish-brown back and much stouter bill. Another allied species, the Citril Finch, F. citrinella (erroneously included in the British list), inhabits the mountain-ranges of Southern Europe, but is easily distinguished by the absence of the black head and the streaks on the underparts. In North America several allied species are found; but they all differ, either in not having the black head or in not having any streaks on the back and underparts. Of the numerous Finches which are annually caught in the south of England, in the neighbourhood of London and on the Brighton downs, the Siskin is by no means the least interesting ; and most bird-catchers find it worth their while to have one or two decoy-birds of this species. It is very common during migration in Mr. Swaysland’s garden near Brighton, which is exceptionally well situated for the observation of birds. My son has frequently caught a score or more of these birds in Mr. Sways- land’s clap-net before breakfast. He has frequently seen them flying up wind in small flocks. Several of the birds were nearly always attracted by the “ brace-bird” and the “ call-bird ;” some flew up at once into the net, whilst others alighted first in the elder-bushes and dry sticks placed there for the purpose. They were very tame and continually answered to the call-bird, and were generally caught without difficulty. At other times I have seen them in the fir trees to the south of his garden in early spring, their short twittering song attracting attention at once. In many of their actions they much resemble a Tit or a Willow-Wren, seldom being still for a moment, and putting themselves into all kinds of positions. At their breeding-haunts, which are principally pine-woods, their song 94. BRITISH BIRDS. is described by Naumann as being very peculiar and interesting. In the pairing-season they are in the habit of flying up into the air from the top of a tree, describing a circle, and with fluttering wings and puffed- out plumage and outspread tail, the wings sometimes almost meeting, descending to the tree again, singing all the time—a proceeding which is by no means peculiar to this bird, but has also been observed of its near relation the Serin, its more distant cousin the Snow-Bunting, the still more distantly related Tree-Pipit, and even of such widely different birds as the Wood-Sandpiper and Temminck’s Stint. The song of the Siskin is not very powerful, but is very pleasing—a succession of very rapid notes, some possessing considerable melody. It is an extremely indus- trious singer, and may be heard all the year round except in the moulting- season. The word Zeisig, which is one of the local names for the bird in Germany, is supposed to be an imitation of the call-note of the male to the female, and may best be expressed in English as ¢syzing. The ordinary call-note of the Siskin is a weak ¢it-tit-tit-tit. The food of the Siskin is principally composed of seeds; but it also eats buds and tender leaves, whilst in summer it catches insects, and on these its young are probably exclusively reared. The Siskin is a somewhat early breeder. Two broods are reared in the year, the first eggs being laid in April and the second in June. Some early English ornithologists have described the nest as being found in furze bushes within a few feet of the ground, in hedges, and even in juniper bushes ; but some doubt attaches to these records, as more recent observers in this country have found it in fir trees at a considerable distance from the ground; and Naumann, whose account of this bird forms the basis of Dresser’s description of its habits, says that the nest is always in conifer trees at a great height, seldom less than 25 feet from the ground. The next is extremely difficult to find, so much so that it has given rise to the legend that the bird places among the eggs a small stone which has the power of rendering the nest imvisible. It is usually placed in the fork of a horizontal branch at some distance from the trunk. One in my collection obtained in Ross-shire, Scotland, on the branch of a fir twenty feet from the ground, on the 30th of May, 1861, by Alexander Macdonald, resembles that of the Greenfinch, but is smaller. Upon a scanty foundation of erass-stalks mixed with a few heather-twigs, the nest is built almost entirely of moss and roots, the finest material being selected for the lining, in which is also a little vegetable down. Other nests are described as having a few feathers in the lining. The eggs are five or six in number, pale bluish green in ground-colour, with dark reddish-brown spots and specks and an occasional streak, and with underlying markings of pinkish grey. The markings on some eggs are much more profuse than on others, but on almost all they are most SISKIN. 95 conspicuous near the large end. They vary in length from °7 to ‘62 inch, and in breadth from °53 to °5 inch. They appear to go through the same variations both in size and colour as the eggs of the Goldfinch, from which they are absolutely indistinguishable. The female alone is said to make the nest and hatch the eggs. In winter the Siskins unite into flocks of greater or less extent, and lead a nomad kind of life, wandering about the country in search of food. They very often join a party of Tits or Goldcrests, and are especially fond of congregating with Lesser Redpoles. These flocks of Siskins usually appear in the south of England about September, and leave again for their breeding-grounds early in the spring. The Siskin in winter is often seen in the alder-plantations, picking out the seeds of those trees as deftly as the Tits, and, in doing so, poisig and twisting in every conceivable attitude. They are not at all shy, and will often allow the observer to watch them quite closely as they flit about the branches over his head. These flocks of Siskins are very irregular in their appearance. Sometimes several years will pass by without a single bird being seen in haunts where they formerly occurred in abundance; and this is probably because the seeds of the trees on which they feed were not plentiful. In this respect it resembles many of its congeners, the Goldfinch and the Brambling especially. The Siskin is a favourite cage-bird, and few birds are so soon reconciled to their captivity or so soon become tame and intimate with their keepers. The Siskin is intermediate in the colour of its plumage between the Greenfinch and the Serin, but differs from both in having the crown, nape, and chin black. With these exceptions, the upper parts, including the wings and tail, very nearly resemble those of the Greenfinch, the dark parts being slightly blacker and the feathers of the back having dark central streaks, whilst the underparts are like those of the Serin. Bill brown, paler at the base; legs, feet, and claws pale brown; irides dark brown. In the female the colours are duller; there is very little yellow in the plumage, and there is no black on the head or throat. After the autumn moult the dark feathers of both sexes have pale margins. 96 BRITISH BIRDS. FRINGILLA MONTIFRINGILLA. BRAMBLING. (PxLate 13.) Carduelis suecica, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 63 (1760). Passer montifringilla, Briss. Orn, iii. p. 155 (1760); et auctorum plurimorum— (Scopoli), (Gmelin), (Latham), (Bonaparte), (Temminck), (Degland § Gerbe), (Salvadorr), (Newton), (Dresser), &e. Fringilla montifringilla, Zinn. Syst, Nat. i. p. 318 (1766), Fringilla lulensis, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 318 (1766). Fringilla flammea, Beseke, Vog. Kurl. p. 79 (1821). Struthus montifringilla (Lriss.), Bote, Isis, 1828, p. 323. Fringilla septentrionalis, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 274 (1881). Fringilla media, Jaub. Rev. et Mag, de Zool. v. p. 117 (1853). The Brambling is only known as a winter migrant to our islands, arriving late in the autumn and remaining until early in the following spring. Its visits are exceedingly irregular and erratic, and districts frequented by thousands of the birds one year may be entirely deserted the next. Apart from this the bird is generally distributed throughout our islands in winter; but it appears to be less numerous in the extreme west of England, and in the Channel Islands its appearance is only exceptional. In Scotland it is perhaps more numerous than in England and as widely dispersed, although it only sparingly visits the inner islands of the west coast, and probably never reaches the outer islands at all. The Shetland Islands are only used by this bird as a resting-place on its annual journeys to and from its northern breeding-grounds. A small flock once visited the Faroes. In Ireland the Brambling is probably as widely distributed as in England and Scotland; but Mr. Watters states that its numbers gradually decline as it reaches the south. The Brambling has been reported to have bred several times in the British Islands; but such a circumstance is very improbable, and until more decisive proofs have been obtained than those already put forward, the statement cannot be accepted. The Brambling is confined to the eastern hemisphere, and ranges from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It breeds throughout the northern portions of the Palearctic Region, frequenting the pine- and especially the birch- forests at or near the limit of forest-growth. In Scandinavia it breeds as far south as lat. 60°; but in the valley of the Amoor, where the mean tem- perature is so much lower, it breeds as low as lat. 50°. It wanders south- wards in winter, a few birds remaining in the southern limits of its breeding- range, but others straying as far south as Southern Europe and even Algeria. It also winters in Asia Minor, Turkestan, the north-west Hima- BRAMBLING. 32 layas, China, and Japan. The Brambling does not appear to have any nearer ally than the Chaffinch, from which it is easily distinguished by its black and white instead of green rump. _ The Brambling is an arctic bird. As soon as the south wind begins to drive away the snow which has paved the forests for eight months or more, Bramblings arrive in large flocks and disperse themselves in the birch- forests to breed. The glossy black contrasting with the pure white and brilliant buff make the male a very conspicuous bird; and at all hours he may be seen flying about in the sunshine, for he seldom reaches his breeding-quarters before the sun has ceased to set. They are early breeders and generally have eggs before June, at least a fortnight earlier than the arrival of the later birds of passage which visit these regions. They prefer birch-forests ; and I have generally found them most numerous in plantations where spruce-firs are mixed with the birch, and where there is an occasional larch, alder, or juniper. Brilliant as is the plumage of the Brambling, he is not so conspicuous as might be imagined. The bark on the birch trees presents almost as strong contrasts in black and white; and in August I have seen as brilliant yellows on the birch-leaves and as gorgeous chromes and Indian reds on the poplars as any thing on the plumage of the Brambling. The autumnal tints of the Siberian forests, if it is allowable to use the term in a country where summer suddenly changes to winter and there is no autumn, are as brilliant as the celebrated autumn tints of North America. The Brambling is a quiet bird, in this respect very different from his near ally the Chaffinch. The song of the male is very rarely heard; it is not unmusical, but is a short, low warble. The note most frequently heard, which is probably the call-note, is a zi long drawn out, not unlike the call- note of the Greenfinch. The alarm-note is a hurried ziv, zw. The Bramb- ling is almost as omnivorous as the Sparrow, and devours seeds, fruit, and insects of all sorts. When they first arrive they eagerly frequent the bare patches of cultivated land where the snow has melted; and beyond the range of cultivation they frequent the open places in the woods, no doubt eating the ground-fruit which has been frozen up all winter. The enor- mous flocks which visit Germany in autumn very largely frequent the beech-forests, and thousands of these birds may be seen under the beech trees shelling the fallen mast. They are said to feed their young ex- clusively with insects. In August the Bramblings begin again to flock, and by the middle of September many have left their breeding-grounds. Naumann says that in Central Europe a few Bramblings appear amongst the Chaffinches towards the end of September. In the first half of October small flocks appear, but in the last half of that month very large flocks pass through to winter further south. In England the migration of this bird is not so regular. Of its occurrence in Yorkshire Dixon writes as follows :— VOL. II. H 98 BRITISH BIRDS. “The Brambling is a very irregular and uncertain visitor to the neigh- bourhood of Sheffield, and seldom appears two consecutive years in one locality in the same numbers. When once a flock of Bramblings appear in a district they seldom leave it until the following sprmg. All winter they are found either upon the fields or in the woods, and they are re- markably regular in their movements. Soon after their arrival they frequent the beech-woods to feed upon the nuts; and it is an animating sight to see the trees literally alive with these charming birds, each busy eagerly shelling out the coveted nuts from their hard sheath. The whole flock keeps up a noisy clamour of twittering notes, and may be closely approached. In winter a favourite ‘haunt of the Brambling is in the newly manured fields—for this bird I am certain is far more insectivorous at this season than is generally supposed. The flock keeps well together ; butif alarmed they fly off ina long straggling train, trooping away to some tree-top, which is soon darkened by their numbers, and their notes, heard from a distance, are like a low continuous murmur. As soon as the cause of their alarm subsides the birds fly down once more, a few at a time, until they are all engaged feeding as before. The Brambling is not abroad very late in the evening (in fact all Finches, as a rule, retire to roost early) and about sunset may be seen at their usual resting-place. When we have a “ Brambling-year” near Sheffield, great numbers of the birds always roost in the shrubbery in Meersbrook Park, in company with Redwings. The Redwings use this quiet retreat every season; and the Bramblings are equally attracted when they pay their nomad visits to the district. They are remarkably noisy birds, and sit upon the tree-tops twittering to each other until dusk; they sometimes fly up into the air ina compact mass, and after wheeling round several times again alight. They roost in the yew and holly trees, and a fair proportion of them seek quarters in the ivy. The Brambling and the Chaffinch seem fast friends and may always be found in company.” The Brambling frequently breeds in a spruce-fir, but more often in a birch. The nest is usually fifteen to twenty feet from the ground, and generally built in the fork of a large branch from the main stem. Oc- casionally they build at a less elevation. The nest is very handsome, not quite so neatly and compactly made as that of the Chaffinch, and rather larger. Its principal beauty is derived from the mixture of green moss, lavender-coloured lichens, and white birch-bark, interwoven with cobwebs, thistle-down, and buff inner birch-bark. The nest is lined with fine grass and feathers. Six is the usual number of eggs, sometimes there are only five, and occasionally as many as seven. They vary in size from ‘85 by ‘6 inch to °75 by ‘55 inch. Some eggs of the Brambling cannot be distin- guished from those of the Chaffinch ; but, as a rule, the ground-colour is greener and the spots smaller and paler. The pale bluish-green ground- BRAMBLING. 99 colour is generally washed here and there with patches of reddish brown, which look like underlying spots that have run. The overlying spots vary from the size of No. 10 shot down to a point, and in colour from pale reddish brown to very dark brown: sometimes they are absent altogether. The male Brambling in full breeding-plumage has the general colour of the upper parts, including the sides of the neck, the ear-coverts, and the cheeks, black glossed with blue on the head and dullest on the quills; lesser wing-coverts chestnut-buff; median wing-coverts white; greater wing-coverts tipped with white. The centre of the rump is white, and a spot of white is formed on the wing by the fourth and succeeding primaries, which have the outside web white at the base. A narrow white margin is also generally left on most of the quills and tail-feathers. The chin, throat, and. breast are chestnut-buff, and the rest of the underparts are white with black spots on the flanks. Bill bluish black ; legs, feet, and claws reddish brown ; irides hazel. The Brambling is an excellent example of a bird which only moults in autumn, but completely changes his appearance in spring by casting the ends of the feathers. To such an extent is this the case that it would almost be possible by carefully cutting off with a pair of scissors the chest- nut-buff margins of the feathers, which nearly conceal the black of the upper parts, to change a bird in autumn plumage to that of spring. This process would not, however, quite complete the change. In autumn the bill becomes bright yellow tipped with horn-colour; the tips of the greater wing-coverts and the margins of the innermost secondaries are broad and chestnut-buff; the margins of the quills and tail-feathers are also broader and greenish yellow, so that there must also be a change in the colour of the feather. The young male in first winter plumage differs very slightly from the adult, but the pale margins of the upper tail-coverts and the two central rectrices extend almost over the whole feather as in the female. The female very much resembles the male in autumn plumage, except that all the colours are duller, the black is replaced by brown, and the chestnut-buff and white on the wing-coverts are reduced to an obscure margin. Females in first winter plumage are very chestnut, and adults in summer plumage are very grey, otherwise in this sex the changes produced by age and season are very slight. Varieties of the Brambling occasionally occur with more or less black on the chin and throat. H 2 100 BRITISH BIRDS. FRINGILLA CASLEBS. CHAFFINCH. (Piare 13.) Passer fringilla, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 148 (1760). Fringilla celebs, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 318 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum— Gmelin, Scopoli, Latham, Temminck, Degland § Gerbe, Dresser, Newton, &e. Fringilla nobilis, Schrank, Faun. Botea, p. 176 (1798). Passer spiza, Pall. Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat. it. p. 17 (1826). Struthus celebs (Linn.), Boie, Isis, 1826, p. 974. The Chaffinch is one of the commonest of our native birds, and is found in all suitable localities throughout the British Islands. Its dis- tribution is somewhat affected by the physical aspects of the country, and bare and treeless districts are little frequented by this gay and lively bird. In Scotland, including several localities on the Outer Hebrides and all the sheltered and wooded portions of the mner islands, it is almost as generally distributed asin England. It occasionally visits barren districts, and is a common bird in winter in the Shetlands. In Ireland the Chat- finch is as common as in England and Scotland, and is found throughout all the cultivated and wooded districts. To the Faroes it is only known as an occasional straggler. 7 The Chaffinch breeds throughout Europe, in Scandinavia as far north as the Arctic circle and occasionally beyond, but in the Ural Mountains only up to lat. 62°. In the northern portion of its breeding-range it is a migratory bird, and in South Europe it breeds on the mountains and winters in the plains. It is a somewhat rare and local resident in Algeria, and also winters in Egypt. Im Asia, Finsch found it east of the Ural Mountains, and received an example from Professor Slovzow from the neighbourhood of Omsk. Severtzow records it as wintering in North-west Turkestan. It breeds in the oak-forests of Western Persia and on the mountains of Asia Minor and Palestine. Its occurrence in Beluchistan, recorded by Sharpe and Dresser, and also by Professor Newton, is con- tradicted by Blanford in his ‘ Hastern Persia.’ The Chaffinch has several very near allies. Our Chaffinch is found as far south as the cork-woods on the coast of Algeria; but in the evergreen- oak forests of the uplands of that country it is replaced by a very nearly allied species, F'. spodiogena, in which the back is suffused with yellowish green instead of dull chestnut, and the underparts are pinkish buff instead of pale dull chestnut. On the island of Madeira the Chaffinch is some- what intermediate between these two species. It is nearest allied to the CHAFFINCH. 101 Algerian bird, but differs from it in having the throat and upper breast buff, instead of pinkish buff. In the Azores, six or seven hundred miles to the north-west, not only the throat and upper breast, but the whole of the underparts are buff. Thisspecies has been named F’. moreleti. In the Canary Islands, which lie some three hundred miles south of Madeira, and are Obviously an extension of the Atlas Mountains, the Chaffinch, which is known by the name F, tintillon, has scarcely any trace of green on the slate-grey of the upper back, but has the buff underparts of the Azores bird. These forms are probably only subspecifically distinct. It seems probable that these islands occasionally receive emigrants from the other islands and the mainland, which probably remain and interbreed with their congeners, as examples from Teneriffe are occasionally suffused with yellowish green on the upper back, and the amount of yellowish green on the upper back of birds from the Azores varies and, in very rare instances, is absent altogether. In the alpine regions of Teneriffe a much more distinct species occurs, F. teydea, in which the whole of the plumage of both upper and underparts is slate-grey, paler on the tips of the wing-coverts, and shading into white on the under tail-coverts. Few of our British birds are more gaily attired than the pert and lively Chaffinch, and few are better known; for there is scarcely a hedge- row, wood, garden, or shrubbery that does not, at some season of the year, contain Chaffinches in abundance. The bird may be easily recog- nized by its oft-repeated and cheerily uttered note of pink, pink, pink, whence it has derived its commonest local name “ Spink.” The haunts of this gay little bird are shrubberies, woods, and hedgerows, together with orchards, well-wooded parks, and gardens. In autumn and winter it also frequents the open fields and stubbles, the commons, and the waste lands near the sea. The Chaffinch is a lively bird, and rarely fails to attract the attention of even the most casual observer, as it either sits on some exposed twig and rattles off its merry laughing song, or mayhap as it flits along the hedge- rows, or asit hops and runs up and down the country-road picking amongst the droppings. Early in March, when the pale primroses are peeping from under the withered leaves, and the hawthorn shows the first signs of verdure, the song of the Chaffinch assists in welcoming the advent of spring. At this season it is the life of the woods and groves, almost the only music the boughs afford. The song of the Chaffinch is short and even monoto- nous compared with that of many other birds; still there is a freshness and sprightliness about it which well makes up for its lack of melody. The bird also seems so earnest in his performance that his entire vigour seems thrown into his melody, and its loud ringing tones fill the air and the woodlands around with gladness. His song may be heard incessantly from March to June, and occasionally to the middle of July, when it ceases 102 BRITISH BIRDS. in the moulting-season, and is usually not regained until the following spring. Some of the birds will, however, sing after recovery from the moult, and may be heard at intervals throughout the autumn. In addition to the call- and alarm-note of pink, pink, pink, common to both sexes, there is another note which is peculiar to the male, and which is only uttered in the pairing- and breeding-seasons. It is something like the call-note of the Willow-Wren, only much louder, and not at all plaintive. It may be expressed as a clear whit. The call-note as the bird flies in small parties is a sip, sip, sip. In the Engadine in the autumn I noticed that the Chaffinches at rest in the pine trees occasionally uttered a sound lke the word kurrt. In March the Chaffinch seeks the hedgerows and the open places; but at nightfall it always retires to the shrubberies and evergreens to roost ; and if the weather be cold and cloudy, it remaims in the shelter of such places. Although the bird loves the warm shelter of evergreens, it seldom builds its nest in them, but seeks the branches of deciduous trees. The site for the nest is varied. It is often in the forked branches of a hawthorn, only a few feet from the ground, or on the lichen- and moss-covered branches of the birch and ash trees, far up in the tower- ing branches of the oak, the alder, and the poplar, and on the lowly branches of the holly, more rarely in the yew, and frequently in the gorse shrubs. A favourite situation is in the fruit-trees in the garden and orchard. Dixon mentions a curious site for the nest of this bird :— “On the banks of the river Derwent, amongst the frowning hills of the High Peak, I once found a Chaffinch’s nest built under a tuft of grass growing on the side of a wall bordering the river. The materials of the nest were so closely woven with the grass that it required no other support ; indeed other support was wanting, and the nest hung suspended over the roaring stream. It contained five eggs, and the female was sitting quietly upon them.” My friend Mr. C. Doncaster also con- tributes the following note on a remarkable Chaffinch’s nest, also in the Peak district :—~ On an old thorn tree by the river Derwent, near Baslow, the stem of which was covered with ivy, I saw a long strip of moss, two feet long and four inches wide, attached to the ivy. I did not suspect that it was a nest; but touching it with my stick, a Chaffinch flew off from a nest with four eggs, about ten feet from the ground. On looking closely I was astonished to find that this two feet of moss was attached to and hanging from the nest, and that it was all manufactured by the bird, containing also lichen and wool, and the whole was attached to the ivy by horsehair. There was no moss on the tree growing naturally, and it was evidently a device for the concealment of the nest. The amount of material woven together in the part that hung down would be several times more than that used in the nest itself.”’ CHAFFINCH. 103 The nest of the Chaffinch, being so elaborate and highly finished, natu- rally takes some little time in its construction; indeed, with the excep- tion of the Long-tailed Titmouse, the female Chaftinch probably takes more time to build her charming little nest than any other British bird. You may visit it day after day for nearly a fortnight ere you find it ready for the eggs. First the outside framework made of rootlets, moss, and grasses, woven beautifully together, and further strengthened with cobwebs and lichens, is completed ; then the inside is lined with a thick and soft bed of hair and feathers and the down from various seeds. Were you to stay near the place during the whole period the nest is being made you would probably never see the male bird do any of the nest-building. He, how- ever, brings the greater part of the materials to his mate, who receives them, and, unaided, weaves them into the structure which is a matchless piece of handiwork. No bird shows more anxiety for its unfinished nest than the Chaffinch. Approach the nest, even though it be but just com- menced, and the birds will flit around you, and by their actions and incessant cries invariably betray the site. Dixon thus writes :—“ Few nests better illustrate the art of ‘mimicry’ in birds than the nest of the Chaffinch. Wherever the Chaffinch’s nest is found there too may be observed an example of her mimicry. Let us glance at a few striking instances of this peculiar protective power. Here on this grassy bank is a gorse bush, dry and. withered, killed by the relentless frosts of the preced- ing winter. Amongst its prickly branches, however, a Chaffinch has made her nest. Found merely by accident, let us examine it closely. The out- side of the nest is thickly covered with little pieces of decayed wood, obtained from a log close by, which assimilate her nest most admirably to the brown dead foliage of the gorse bush and its withered blooms. So closely does it resemble surrounding tints that, seen at a short distance, it appears part of the bush itself. Take another instance: on the lichen- covered branch of this hoary birch tree something is seen which appears to be a knotted prominence of the bark; closer inspection reveals the nest of the Chaffinch, its walls bemg decked with lichens and spider’s webs, the whole harmonizing so closely with the tints of the bark as to defy all but the keenest gaze to detect the bird’s secret. Another instance: in yonder hawthorn tree clothed in fairest bloom is a Chaffinch’s nest; the lichens and the decayed wood, however, have been discarded, and in their place are small scraps of paper, so thickly studding the outside of the nest as to appear at a casual glance nothing more than an exceptionally handsome bunch of bloom. The female Chaftinch is also much less showily arrayed than the male, and as their nest is an open one she alone performs the duties of incubation.” The eggs of the Chaffinch are from four to six in number. Typical eggs are pale bluish green in ground-colour, clouded with pale reddish 104: BRITISH BIRDS. brown, sometimes to such an extent as to entirely conceal the green ground, spotted and occasionally streaked with dark reddish-brown overlying mark- ings and pale purplish-brown underlying ones, usually most profuse at the larger end of the egg. A somewhat rare variety, which I have taken both in this country, in Greece, and in Germany, are scarcely distinguish- able from eggs of the Bullfinch; they are clear greenish blue in ground- colour, with large underlying blotches of faint purple, and surface-spots and streaks of rich purplish brown. They vary in length from ‘8 to ‘7 inch, and in breadth from °65 to ‘55 inch. Chaffinch’s eggs very closely resemble those of the Brambling, but as a rule are much more clouded with reddish brown. The Chaffinch generally rears two broods in the year. When the young are able to take care of themselves, they appear to be abandoned by their parents ; but in late autumn.the Chaffinches congregate into large flocks, and continue more or less gregarious for the winter. At this season of the year a considerable separation of the sexes appears to oecur; but it is probable that this peculiar habit is confined to those birds that come to our shores in autumn; for our resident Chaflinches of both sexes may be seen in company throughout the winter. It may be that the Chaftinches separate into flocks (the females and young in one, the old males in another) to perform their annual journey; for certainly after they have sojourned here some time these flocks seem to merge into each other, irrespective of sex. These flocks frequent the stubbles and the newly manured fields, and later on in the season the lands where sowing-operations are going on. A favourite place is in the beech-woods, where they keep company with Bramblings. Thew roosting-places are almost invariably amongst evergreens. The food of the Chaffinch in summer is almost exclusively composed of insects; but during the remainder of the year consists of grain and seeds of various kinds. The bird is often seen hovering in the air catching insects like a Flycatcher, and the young are fed on larve. In winter the bird consumes the seeds of many noxious plants, and often visits the stackyards and manure-heaps, feeding with the Sparrows. It is somewhat troublesome to the gardener in seed-time ; but a few scarecrows will usually suffice to keep the little plunderer away ; otherwise the Chaf- finch is one of the gardener’s best friends. Great numbers of Chaffinches annually come to this country to winter. The east and south-east coasts of England are the places where they usually arrive ; and their journeys are performed almost exclusively in the night, consequently many birds are obtained at our lighthouses, and frequently strike against the lantern in their wanderings. The Chaffinch is in great request as a cage-bird, especially on the conti- nent, in France and Germany, where the poor birds are often blinded for the purpose of increasing their powers of song. _ CHAFFINCH. 105 In the adult male Chaffinch in spring plumage the general colour of the ’ upper parts is slate-grey, suffused with chestnut on the mantle, and with yellowish’ green on the rump ; the wings are dark brown, the outside web margined with dull yellow; the median wing-coverts are white, and the greater wing-coverts are black, tipped with yellow; the tail is dark brown, with a considerable amount of white on two and sometimes three of the outer feathers at each side ; the forehead is black; the lores, the feathers round the eye, the ear-coverts, cheeks, and the whole of the underparts are pale chestnut-brown, suffused with pink on the belly, and shading into nearly white on the under tail-coverts. Bill lead-blue in summer, fleshy pink, darkest at the tip, in winter; legs, feet, and claws brown; irides hazel. 'The female differs from the male in having the slate-grey of the upper parts replaced by brown, and by having the underparts much paler. After the autumn moult the slate-grey feathers of the upper parts have brown edges, the white on the wings is suffused with yellow, and the underparts are paler. Young males in first plumage somewhat closely resemble females ; but assume an intermediate plumage after their first autumn moult, 106 BRITISH BIRDS. FRINGILLA CANNABINA. LINNET. (Prater 13.) Passer linaria, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 151 (1760). Passer linaria rubra major, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 185 (1760). Passer linaria argentoratensis, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 146 (1760). Fringilla cannabina, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 322 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum —Gmelin, Scopoli, Latham, Temminck, Naumann, (Macgillivray), (Newton), (Dresser), &c. Fringilla linota, Gmel. Syst. Nat. 1. p. 916 (1788). Linaria linota (Gmel.), Bechst. Naturg. Deutschl. ii. p. 141 (1807). Linota fringillirostris, Bonap. Consp. i. p. 559 (1850). Cannabina bella, Hempr. et Ehr. fide Cab. Mus. Hein. i. p. 161 (1850). Ligurinus cannabinus (Linn.), Koch, Syst. baier. Zool. i. p. 231 (1816). Linaria cannabina (Linn.), Bote, Isis, 1822, p. 554. Passer cannabina (Linn.), Pall. Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat, ii. p. 26 (1826). Passer papaverina, Pall. Zoogr. Rosso- Asiat. ii. p. 27 (1826). Linota cannabina (Linn.), Bonap. Comp. List B. Eur. § N. Amer. p. 34 (1838). Cannabina linota (Gmel.), Gray, List Gen. B. p. 45 (1840). The Linnet is generally distributed throughout the British Islands, prin- cipally on commons and uncultivated lands. Its distribution is perhaps more restricted in the breeding-season than at other times of the year; nevertheless there is probably no suitable part of the mainland of the United Kingdom in which the Linnet does not breed. It is found on the Western Isles, even on the treeless islands, where it breeds amongst the heather; but it does not appear to visit Shetland. The Linnet breeds throughout Europe—in Scandinavia south of lat. 64°, and in East Russia south of lat. 59°. In the most northern portion of its range it is a migrant; but south of the Baltic it is found in greater or less numbers at all seasons of the year. To North-eastern Africa it is a winter visitor as far south as Abyssinia; but in Algeria, Tangiers, and Morocco it is a resident. It is a resident in the Canaries and Madeira, but appears to be absent from the Azores. It is a resident in Asia Minor, Palestine, Persia, and Turkestan. It also breeds in the south-west of Siberia as far east as the Altai Mountains. Examples from Central Asia have been described as distinct under the name of F. fringillirostris (F. bella of Cabanis). This is a slightly larger and rathe rpaler form; the red on the breast and head is a little more scarlet, it has perhaps more white on the rump, and the dark centres to the feathers on the back are less distinct. Examples from Asia Minor are intermediate. The difference between the LINNET. 107 two extreme forms is so slight that the Eastern form is scarcely deserving of even subspecific rank. The Common, Brown, or Red Linnet, or Lintie, as it is variously called, is one of our best-known species, and, from its tame disposition and pleasing song, is also one of our most popular cage-birds. In winter (in fact throughout the year, the few months of the breeding-season excepted) it may be seen in almost every rural district, and not unfrequently visits the busy metropolis, where it is sometimes seen in the parks. The Linnet appears to be decreasing in numbers in our islands, partly in consequence of the immense numbers netted by the bird-catchers, and partly on account of the reclamation of land, by which its favourite haunts are destroyed. It is most abundant in the less cultivated districts, on commons, especially in gorse-coverts, and on the half-tilled lands near the moors. In winter it is more widely dispersed, and frequents grass-fields and stubbles, often coming into gardens, where a few pairs remain during the summevr. The Common Linnet is a gregarious bird, and even in the breeding- season is more or less sociable. In the boisterous month of March, when winter seems struggling for supremacy with spring, the Linnet pairs, the large flocks break up, and most of the birds retire to the wilder districts to breed. The Linnet’s song is heard most frequently at this season; and very often the males of a flock will warble in chorus from some tree-top, fillimg the air for some distance around with melody. Perhaps the song of the Linnet is heard to bést advantage when the flocks are dispersed, and each pair is engaged in domestic duties on the breezy uplands. Here, it may be in some dense mass of furze bushes, a low warbling song may be heard, not unlike that of the Swallow, proceeding from a cock Linnet sitting on the topmost spray of a gorse bush serenading his mate. When singing he is very shy, and usually drops into the cover when disturbed. The song is not very loud, part of it is somewhat harsh, but it is varied by those low melodious notes which make this species so popular with the bird-fancier. It is only in the pairing-season that the bird sings fre- quently, and when the eggs are laid he seems too busy in feeding his mate to devote much of his time to music. The common call-note of the Linnet isa musical twit, twit, rapidly repeated ; that of one sex to the other is intermediate between the similar notes of the Canary and the Goldfinch, and might be represented by the word tyew-ee. The great breeding-grounds of the Linnet are on the rough lands which lie between the moors and the well-cultivated districts. It is almost a mountain-bird, but not so much so as the Twite. In the lowlands it shows a decided preference for gorse-thickets, where its nest is most frequently found. Other favourite situations are in masses of broom or in a rugged sloe-tree, and sometimes in the branches of tall heather or amongst brambles and briars. In more low-lying districts the bird will sometimes 108 BRITISH BIRDS. build in a whitethorn hedge and amongst honeysuckle; but in all kinds of country gorse bushes are preferred. The site is usually a convenient fork, where the nest can obtain support by the surrounding branches. Instances of the Linnet constructing its nest on the ground are occasionally met with. The nest is formed in the first place of moss and dry grass, strengthened with a few fine twigs, often those of the gorse, dead and withered, and bound together with wool obtained from the branches, where it has been left by the sheep in endeavouring to force their way through the dense thicket. It is lined with hair, wool, and vegetable down, and sometimes a few feathers. Although it often looks somewhat loosely put together, it will be found on close inspection to be well made, and the cup containing the eggs to be beautifully smooth and rounded. The inside measurement is about two inches across and one and a half deep. It is usually built a few feet from the ground, but sometimes at a much greater height. The eggs of the Linnet are from four to six in number, the latter being the usual clutch. They are greenish white or French white in ground-colour, blotched, spotted, speckled, and streaked with reddish brown and rich purplish brown. Some eggs are much more richly marked than others, and on some specimens the markings are very small, pale, and indistinct. As is usual, the larger end of the egg is the most spotted, generally in the form of an irregular zone. The underlying markings are not very numerous, and on most eggs light and dark over- lying spots occur. On some specimens there are a few streaks of rich brown. They vary in length from ‘8 to ‘66 inch, and in breadth from °55 to °5 inch. Eggs of this species and its allies ought to be very carefully identified, as small examples are indistinguishable from large eggs of the Goldfinch, and large examples from small eggs of the Greenfinch. The female sits very closely on her eggs, sometimes allowing herself to be removed by the hand. The Linnet probably in many cases rears two broods in the season. In early autumn the gregarious habits of these birds are again assumed, and they keep in flocks throughout the winter. At this season their habits can most readily be observed. They resort to the stubbles and pastures on low-lying lands, or weedy ground near their breeding-places. They are not very shy, but more so than Redpoles, and search for the greater part of their food on the ground. When alarmed they often fly off together to the nearest tree-tops, where they keep up a twitter- ing chorus; but sometimes those nearest to the observer fly ahead and again alight. Occasionally, in feeding, the flock gets more or less dis- persed, but the birds soon unite again. Linnets generally roost upon the ground or in low bushes near their feeding-places. They do not come to the shrubberies to roost like Bramblings, nor do they seem at all partial to evergreens. The flocks constantly wander from place to place, and LINNET. 109 there can be no doubt they are highly serviceable to the agriculturist. They usually keep to themselves, but very often a few birds will intermingle with Greenfinches, Twites, Redpoles, or Chaffinches. The flight of the Linnet is rapid but undulating. A flock will sometimes wheel and poise in the air, displaying great powers of wing, especially when alarmed from their feeding-places. Upon the ground this bird hops with ease, and also displays considerable dexterity in clinging to the stems of weeds, such as thistles and docks. The food of the Linnet is largely composed of seeds of various kinds. It does not feed much on grain, although it is sometimes seen on the newly sown wheat-fields ; but it eats the seeds of the smaller plants, especially of those that are troublesome to the farmer, such as docks, nettles, dandelions, thistles, charlocks, &c. It is also, as is well known, very fond of hemp and kindred seeds. Insects doubtless form part of its food in summer; but Naumann states that it feeds its young on seeds carefully shelled and partially softened in its crop. In winter it is said to feed on various berries ; and Macgillivray states that it has been known to eat oats. _ Although the Limnet is a resident in this country it is probable that many, if not most of the birds of the year join the flocks of this species that pass our islands every autumn, and migrate further south with them. On the east coast, flocks of these birds may be seen as early as July frequenting the weedy pastures and the “ denes ” or “links,” as these sand-hills are locally called. In autumn they are joined by other migrants, probably from the continent. Dixon has seen flocks of Linnets arriving at intervals, day after day, from the sea on the Lincolnshire coast, and passing south-west together with Redwings and other birds; whilst on the south coast great numbers are caught during the autumn migration at Brighton and other places. The adult male Linnet in breeding-plumage has a crimson frontal patch reaching to the centre of the crown; the rest of the head, the nape, and the sides of the neck are brownish grey, shading into chestnut-brown on the back and mto pale chestnut-brown on the rump, each feather, including the wing-coverts and innermost secondaries, having an obscure dark centre ; the upper tail-coverts are blackish brown, broadly edged with buftish white ; the quills are dark brown, margined with white on the outer web; the tail-feathers are dark brown, with white margins, which are especially broad on the inner webs; the general colour of the underparts is buff, shading into dull chestnut-brown on the flanks and into buffish white on the belly and under tail-coverts, and richly suffused with carmine-red on the breast ; there are a few indistinct dark streaks on the chin, throat, flanks, and under tail-coverts. Bill lead-colour, paler at the base of the lower mandible; legs, feet, and claws brown; irides hazel. The female differs from the male in having no crimson on the crown or breast, in having the 110 BRITISH BIRDS. general colour of the upper parts much duller, with the streaks on the upper and underparts more pronounced. Young males in first plumage resemble the adult female. After the autumn moult, the male has pale margins to all the feathers, which almost conceal the crimson of the head and breast; but these margins drop off as the season advances, and the red on the head and breast and the chestnut on the back seem to intensify. In captivity the males gradually lose the crimson on the crown and breast, which changes without a moult into ochre-yellow ; and after the first moult they assume the plumage of the female, which they retain ever afterwards. Birds in which the crimson is replaced by ochre-yellow are occasionally caught wild, and are probably males deficient in vigour. In addition to the Eastern form of this species already alluded to, the Common Linnet has several near allies; but the only British species with which it is at all likely to be confused are the Twite and Redpole. Both may always be distinguished by their yellowish bills and the absence of the broad white margins to the inner webs of the tail-feathers ; and the Redpole, which is less closely allied to the Common Linnet than is the Twite, possesses the additional characters of a dark brown chin-spot and a double wing-bar. TWITE. 111 FRINGILLA FLAVIROSTRIS. TWITE. (Pirate 13.) Passer linaria montana, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 145 (1760). Fringilla flavirostris, Zinn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 322 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum— Latham, Pallas, (Bonaparte), (Degland § Gerbe), (Gray), (Salvadori), (Gould), (Dresser), (Newton), &c. Fringilla montium, G'mel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 917 (1788). Linaria montium (G'mel.), Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. Sc. Brit. Mus. p. 15 (1816). Cannabina montium (G'mel.), Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 278 (1831). Cannabina flavirostris,(Zinn.), Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 278 (1831). Linaria flavirostris (Zinn.), Macgill. Hist. Brit. B. i. p. 379 (1837). Linota montium (Gmel.), Bonap. Comp. List B. Eur. § N. Amer. p. 34 (1888). Acanthis montium (Gmmel.), Blyth, fide Bonap. Consp. i. p. 540 (1850). Linota flavirostris (Zinn.), Saunders, Ibis, 1869, p. 172. So far as is known, the Twite was first described from specimens obtained in the neighbourhood of Sheffield by Francis Jessop, F.R.S., the discoverer also of the Garden- Warbler and the Wood-Wren. Rather more than two centuries ago this ornithologist resided on his ancestral estate of Broom Hall, just outside the dirty village down in the hollow, where a thriving business in the manufacture of knives and other kinds of cutlery had been carried on for three centuries or more. Jessop dis- covered the Twite in the Peak of Derbyshire, though he need not have gone so far; for even at the present time this bird breeds within three miles of his old hall. He communicated the discovery of this bird to his friend Willughby, who described it under the name of the Mountain- Linnet, Linaria montana, in his ‘ Ornithologia,’ a work which appeared after his death, in 1676, under the able editorship of John Ray. Since then it has been ascertained to breed in most parts of the British Islands, wherever uncultivated bits of heathy land or Grouse-moors are to be found. It breeds in all suitable localities in Ireland, but in the cultivated districts of that country as well as of Scotland and England it is almost exclusively known as a winter visitor. It is especially common on the islands off the coast of Scotland, the Hebrides, the Orkneys, and the Shet- lands, but it has not been recorded from the Faroes. Fewer British species have a more restricted range than the Twite. Outside the British Islands it is only known to breed in the alpine and subalpine districts of Norway, principally on the islands and near the coast. In winter it has been met with sparingly in most parts of Europe south of the Baltic and west of Russia. In the Hast it is replaced by a 112 BRITISH BIRDS. very nearly allied species, F. brevirostris, a bird of much more southern distribution, breeding from the Caucasus through Turkestan to Northern Thibet. This species is slightly less than our bird and decidedly paler, and is probably fairly entitled to specific distinction on the ground that, as the areas of distribution of the two birds are discontinuous, they have no opportunity of interbreeding. A single example of a female bird allied to the Twite was shot in Massachusetts, and named Aigiothus flavirostris by Ridgway, which may possibly prove to be an American representative of this species, but is more probably the young of some known species. The Twite is essentially a bird of the moors; he makes his home amongst the heath and the ling in company with the Grouse and the Ring-Ouzel. From his geographical distribution it might be inferred that he is a maritime bird; but this is not the case. He loves wild open rocky country wherever it is, and breeds as freely on the Derbyshire moors inland as on the Hebrides and the Loffodens. The reason that he does not go inland in Nor- way is easy to find in the fact that it is only on the islands and near the coast that the bleak nor’-westerly gales and the violent sou’-westers have prevented the pine-forests from seizing upon all the rocky country, leaving none open enough in the interior to suit the taste of the Twite. In its mode of flight and other habits this bird differs very little from the Linnet. In Norway it is a migratory bird, collecting together in flocks in autumn, which wander south in winter, like other gipsy migrants, appearing irregularly in considerable numbers in various parts of Europe, delaying their departure to dally amongst the stubbles of the lowlands to the last possible moment and then hurrying across. Sometimes they choose the route across England, vid Heligoland, the favourite “ fly-line,” as the Americans call it, of so many species ; but more often they probably pass direct into Germany, or take the coast-line through Holland and Belgium. In the British Islands the Twite is a resident; but even with us a partial migration takes place, the moors are deserted, and in winter this bird is principally seen in small flocks on the stubble-fields and in the farm- yards. In the former its services in eating the seeds of all sorts of weeds are of great value, and in the latter its food is similar. It can scarcely be doubted that in summer it also eats insects. It is probable that many flocks, principally consisting of birds of the year, leave our islands in late autumn and join their Norwegian brethren on the continent. The Twite is a very industrious singer, but its vocal powers are not of a very high order. The song is very much like that of a Linnet, but scarcely so loud and much less varied, and may even be heard on a sunshiny day in winter. The ordinary call-note, which is almost constantly heard whilst the flocks are either flying from place to place, feeding on the ground, or resting on the heather, is a twitter very similar to that of the Linnet or the Redpole, but scarcely so harsh as that of TWITE. 1138 the former nor so soft as that of the latter. In the breeding-season, when the male calls to the female, the note is supposed to resemble the word ¢wah-it or twite, whence its name. It is rather a late breeder, and seldom has eggs before the middle of May. ‘The nest is often built in the heather, a few inches from the ground; very often it is placed in a depression in the ground itself or on a ledge of rock; but Capt. Elwes, speaking of its breeding-habits in the Hebrides, says that it makes its nest in a bush or in creepers against a garden wall. Saxby, in his ‘ Birds of the Shetland Islands,’ describes a nest built in a slight hollow under a long strip of turf which had been nearly reversed by the plough. He watched this nest in the process of construction, both parents working at it during eight days. The unobtrusive Twite is often neglected by the oologist for more attractive game. On the 28th of May, 1870, I took a nest with four fresh eggs, between Moscar Bar and Strines, near Sheffield, during an afternoon’s ramble on the moors. The nest was ina niche on the edge of the turf which had been cut to make a road, and the top of the nest. was level with the surface of the ground. The bird flew off the nest to a small rock close by in the heather, where it remained for a long time, giving me and my companion ample opportunity of examining it through a binocular. It was a very pretty sight ; but not more than a dozen yards further on, in a precisely similar situation, was the nest of a Ring-Ouzel. In the course of the afternoon we found several more nests of the Ring- Ouzel containing eggs, peeped into three or four nests of the Red Grouse, took a nest of the Merlin containing five eggs, climbed up to a Sparrow- Hawk’s nest with six eggs, and examined a nest of the Kestrel, which we took two days afterwards, together with a clutch of Golden Plover’s eges and a forsaken nest of the Black Grouse, so that the poor little Twite, really the most interesting of all, was almost forgotton. The nest of the Twite is beautifully finished inside, and is almost as neat as that of the Lesser Redpole. When it is placed on the ground, the out- side is of course built in to suit the cavity; but in a tree or amongst heather the nest is somewhat large and clumsy outside, the foundation being twigs of heather interwoven with grass-stalks, which alone form the upper portion. Inside the cup is very small, not more than an inch and half across and almost as deep. The lining is fine roots, sheep’s wool, feathers, hair- or thistle-down, sometimes two or three of these materials at once. The number of eggs is usually five, very often only four, but occasionally six. The eggs measure from °72 to ‘65 inch in length, by ‘53 to -47 inch in breadth; they are very pale greenish blue, and are indistinguishable in their markings from eggs of the Linnet, except that perhaps they are more often streaked. The Twite is very similar to the Linnet, but is smaller, with a longer tail, so that it looks almost as large, but slightly more slender. It has no VOL, Il. I 114 BRITISH BIRDS. red on the crown or breast like the male Linnet or Redpole ; but the male Twite has the red on the rump like the latter bird. The general colour is pale reddish brown, shading into greyish white on the belly and under tail- coverts, each feather of the upper parts, the breast, and the flanks having a dark brown centre. The wings and tail are dark brown as in the Linnet ; but the white edging to the middle quills is less marked, and the broad white margins of the inner webs of the tail-feathers are replaced by an ill- defined pale brown edge. The legs, feet, and claws are dark brown, as in the Linnet, and the irides are also hazel, but the billis yellow. The female is slightly paler and has no red on the rump. After the autumn moult, the pale reddish-brown margins of the feathers obscure more of the dark brown centres. The yellow bill is assumed with the autumn moult, but fades into pale horn-colour before the next moult takes place. eesti) E Wik 74g REDPOLES. 115 FRINGILLA RUFESCENS, FRINGILLA LINARIA, ann FRIN- GILLA HORNEMANNI. LESSER REDPOLE, MEALY REDPOLE, and GREENLAND REDPOLE. (PLate 12.) The Redpole is subject to considerable variation throughout its wide range, which appears to be circumpolar. Examples from Western Europe are very small (varying in length of wing from 2°8 to 2°5 inches) and are very rufous; the prevailing colour of the margins of the feathers is pale buffish brown, and the stripes on the back, rump, flanks, and under tail- coverts are very distinct, and the breast of the adult male in breeding- plumage is rich carmine. Proceeding eastwards, through North Europe, North Asia, and North America, to Greenland, the tendency is to become larger and whiter, the extreme form in Greenland varying in length of wing from 3°3 to 3'1 inches, intermediate continental forms measuring from 3:0 to 2°65 inches. In the Greenland bird the red on the breast is a delicate pink, the streaks on the rump, under tail-coverts, and flanks are nearly or quite obsolete, and the margins of the feathers are pure white. In Arctic Europe, Asia, and America every intermediate form between these two occurs ; and the variety of plumage thus occasioned is further complicated by the differences which are attributable to age, sex, and season. The West-European form is known as F. rufescens, and the Greenland form as F. hornemanni. The intermediate forms are known as F. linaria, which may be considered the typical form, of which the two extremes just mentioned are varieties. Some ornithologists, as Dresser and Newton, have attempted to separate these intermediate forms into two species ; others, as Ridgway, make three; whilst Coues and Homeyer make four. Each of the characters relied upon, whether it be the size of the bill, the colour of the breast, the absence or otherwise of streaks on the rump or under tail-coverts, or the extent of white on the plumage, would draw a line in a series in a different place; but as none of these lines would be geographical ones, it seems the wisest course to regard the intermediate race as very variable, the two extremes of variation alone having any geographical limits distinct from those of the typical form. The synonymy of the three forms is as follows :—- 12 wo BRITISH BIRDS. FRINGILLA RUFESCENS. LESSER REDPOLE. Passer linaria minima, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 142 (1760). Fringilla cabaret, Mill. Natursyst. Suppl. p. 165 (1776). Fringilla linaria, var. 8, Lath. Ind. Orn. i. p. 459 (1790). Linaria rufescens, Vieill. Mem. Real. Accad. Tor, xxiii. Sc. Fis. p. 202 (1816- 18) ; et auctorum plurimorum—Degland, Gerbe, Gray, (Irby), (Newton), (Dresser) &e. Linaria minor, Selby, Brit. Orn. i. p. 820 (1833). Acanthis rufescens (Vieill.), Bonap. Consp. i. p. 540 (1850). ABgiothus rufescens (Vietll.), Cab. Mus. Hein. i. p. 161 (1850). Linacanthis rufescens (Vieill.), DesMurs, Encycl. d’ Hist. Nat. v. p. 804 (1855-58). Linota rufescens (Vieill.), Newton, ed. Yarr. Brit. B. ii. p. 146 (1876). Linota linaria (Linn.), apud Yarrell, Cordeaux, Stevenson, Gray, Saxby, &e. Fringilla linaria (Linn.), apud Mudie, Harting, &c. FRINGILLA LINARIA. Meaty REDPOLE. Passer linaria rubra minor, Briss. Orn. il. ie 138 (1760). Fringilla linaria, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 3822 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum— Gmelin, Bonaparte, (Cabanis), Temminck, Wilson, Audubon, (Pallas), (Newton), (Dresser), &e. Spinus linaria (inn.), Koch, Syst. baier. Zool. i. p. 233 (1816). Linaria borealis, Vieil. Mem. Real. Accad. Sc. Tor. xxiii. Se. Fis. p. 199 (1816-18). Fringilla borealis, Vieil. Gal. Ors. 1. p. 78, pl. 65 (1825). Passer linaria (Linn.), Pall. Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat. ii. p. 25 (1826). Linaria holboellii, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 280 (1831). Linaria vulgaris, Riipp. Neue Wirb. Vog. p. 101 (1835). Linaria canescens, Gould, B. Ew. iii. pl. 193 (1884). Linota canescens (Gould), Bonap. Comp. List B. Eur. § N. Amer. p. 34 (1888). Linota borealis (Vieill.), Bonap. Comp. List B. Eur. § N. Amer. p. 34 (1888). Cannabina linaria (Zinn.), Riipp. Syst. Uebers. p. 77 (1845). Acanthis linaria (Zinn.), Bonap. Consp.i. p. 541 (1850). Acanthis holbilli (Brehm), Bonap. Consp.i. p. 541 (1850). Aegiothus linarius (Linn.), Cab. Mus. Hein. i. p. 161 (1850). Aegiothus holboellii (Brehm), Cab. Mus. FHein.1. p. 161 (1850). AXgiothus fuseescens, Coues, Proc. Phil. Acad. 1861, p. 222. Egiothus exilipes, Cowes, Proc. Phil. Acad. 1861, p. 386. Cannabina canescens (Gould), Swinhoe, Ibis, 1861, p. 335. A®giothus canescens (Gould), Blakiston, Ibis, 1863, p. 71. Aegiothus borealis ( Viedll.), Swinhoe, Ibis, 1874, p. 160, Linota linaria (Linn.), Newton, ed. Yarr, Brit. B. ii. p. 188 (1876), Linota exilipes (Cowes), Newton, Zoologist, 1877, p. 6. REDPOLES. . 117 FRINGILLA HORNEMANNI., GREENLAND REDPOLE. Linota hornemanni, Holb, Naturh, Tidsk. iv. p. 398 (1843), The Lesser Redpole breeds more or less commonly in all the counties of England north of Norfolk and Leicester. South of this boundary it is not so common in summer, but, nevertheless, has been found breeding in the greater number of counties east of Somerset. In Scot- land its distribution appears to be regulated by the presence of woods and thickets, especially birch-plantations ; and Mr. Gray has never been able to trace it where such shelter is absent. It is a visitor to Iona and Islay, and Dixon met with it in Skye. It also visits the Orkneys on migration in considerable flocks. In Ireland it is as common as in the rest of the British Islands, but is most numerous in the north. The only known instance of the Lesser Redpole breeding out of the British Islands is that recorded by Professor Gigioli (‘ Ibis,’ 1881, p. 204), who obtained a nest from the Veglio Alps in Italy, about 7000 feet above the sea-level. In winter it has been obtained in France, Spain, Italy, and Western Germany, and passes through Belgium and Holland on migra- tion. The Mealy Redpole is an irregular winter visitor to our islands, chiefly to the northern portions. It is of less frequent occurrence in the eastern and south-eastern counties, and does not appear to have occurred west of Sussex. In Scotland it is chiefly met with in the east, and rarely in the south-western districts; it is, however, a regular winter visitor to the Orkneys. The Mealy Redpole is a circumpolar bird, breeding at or near the limit of forest-growth, and possibly in some of the alpine districts of central Europe. In winter it is found in various, localities throughout the whole of Central and Southern Europe. Eastwards it wanders as far as Turkestan, South Siberia, North China, and Japan. On the American continent it winters in South Canada and the Northern States. The Greenland Redpole has only once been obtained in our islands. An example was knocked down on the 24th of April, 1855, on the sea-banks near Whitburn, where it had been observed for several days previous to its capture. This specimen is in Mr. Hancock’s collection, and is figured in his ‘Catalogue of the Birds of Northumberland and Durham’ (p. 54, pl. 5). The Greenland Redpole breeds in Greenland, Iceland, and Spitzbergen, where it is said to be resident ; but Mr. Brooks informs me that it appears in winter in Canada ; and, in addition to the specimen captured in England. 118 BRITISH BIRDS. one example has been obtained in France and another in Heligoland. In Greenland it does not breed south of lat. 69°, and Holboll found it still common in lat. 73°. The Redpole is a very interesting bird, especially to British ornitholo- gists, who have opportunities of studying its habits during the breeding- season denicd to the field-naturalists of other countries. The variations in its plumage at different ages have given rise to much controversy, and the specific value of those due to geographical distribution to still more. In its appearance it isan immature Linnet ; but in its habits it resembles more the Siskin, a bird to whose society it is very partial in winter. It has the easy buoyant flight of the latter bird, and there is a considerable similarity in their songs. The British Redpole, or, as it is more generally called, the Lesser Redpole, is a resident in our islands ; but after the breeding-season is over these birds collect together in flocks, some of which seem to cross the Channel for the winter. In either case they become gipsy migrants, wandering here and there in search of food, very uncertain in their appear- ance, common one year and rare the next. The Mealy Redpole scarcely differs in its habits in this respect. Jn Finmark Collett says that though the majority leave the country and wander south in winter, many remain behind and feed upon the buds of the birch and alder. In Siberia, however, the greater degree of cold probably compels them all to migrate. In the valley of the Yenesay I found them in large flocks feeding on the droppings of the horses on the snow at Yenesaisk in lat. 58°, in the first week of April; but on the banks of the Koorayika, on the Arctic circle, I saw nothing of them until the last week in May. So true are they to their character of gipsy migrants that, according to Naumann, they are popu- larly said to appear in Germany only once in seven years, arriving in November and leaving again early in February. The Greenland or Arctic Redpole is said to be a resident in that country ; but it appears also to be a partial migrant; for my friend Mr. Brooks assures me that it visits him in Canada in winter, and Holbdll describes its erratic wanderings, occa- sionally appearing in great numbers near the Danish colonies. All the three varieties are principally ground-feeders in winter, and if cautiously approached show very little fear. In the plantations and forests they are much more difficult to observe, frequenting, like the Siskin and the Serin, the tops of the trees. They pass rapidly over the trees, twittering to each other as they fly along. Itisa beautiful sight to see a large flock of these little birds hopping about on the snow, picking up seeds from the droppings of the horses, almost allowing the sledge to run over them before they rise in a cloud and drop down again a hundred yards in advance. Nor are their habits in this country any less interesting, as they alight in a flock on a bed of dead thistles, and tear the remains of the flowers to pieces, like Goldfinches, scattering the fragments in every direction, or twist and twine REDPOLES. og amongst the branches of a birch, placing their little bodies in every con- ceivable position, like Willow-Wrens or Tits. The three races of Redpoles differ but slightly in their notes. Besides the twittering note which they have in common with most Finches, and which is constantly heard as they fly in small parties or large flocks, they have a very distinct call-note, which, as far as I know, is only heard when the bird is perched. It is very difficult to express the notes of birds on paper ; -but the call-note of the Lesser Redpole sounds in my ears as much lke the French word henri as a whistle can produce. The note of the Mealy Redpoles which winter in Germany cannot be very different. Naumann represents it by the word hoing, long drawn out, and says that it is fre- quently heard at the nest, probably quoting Bechstein, who found them breeding in Thuringia. These Redpoles, which sometimes breed in Germany, are probably not Mealy Redpoles at all, but Lesser Redpoles ; for in Siberia the note is certainly different. JI had abundant opportunities of listening to it, both in the valley of the Petchora and in that of the Yenesay. During the long weary waiting for summer to come, one of our favourite methods of killing time was to watch the flocks of Snow-Buntings and Redpoles. The note of the latter was by no means the clear, liquid henri of our bird, but a thick and far less musical note, like the sound of zh, so modulated and drawn out as to appear bisyllabic. The note of our bird is nearly allied to the note of the Canary or Siskin, that of the Siberian bird to the note of the Greenfinch, Brambling, or Snow-Bunting. The notes of the Redpoles in the Engadine in autumn resembled the word mvee-ik, and evidently signified “‘My dear, where are you?” “ My love, come here.” This note is quite distinct from the ordinary chit, chit, chit, which seems to mean “ Come on, come on; there’s a noise.” Of the note of the Greenland Redpole Brooks writes to me :—“ As it flies it utters quite a different note from that of the Mealy Redpole, more of a prolonged Sparrow-like chirp, but shriller. When it alights it utters the Canary-like ‘ too-wee’ call-note, as the Mealy Redpole also does.” From this we might conclude that it is the Siberian bird which has a distinct note (an argument which might be used for the distinctness of F. exilipes). I unfortunately neglected to make any memoranda of the notes of this bird in Lapland. Our information respecting the song of the Redpoles is also very unsatisfactory. I have listened scores of times to what I call its song in the neighbourhood of Sheffield, where the bird is very common and breeds regularly within three miles of the centre of the town. [ describe it as a short monotonous trill, clear, shrill, and not altogether unmusical. Itis one of those songs whose charm cannot be analyzed ; but, for some reason or other, it has always been a great favourite of mine, possibly on account of the extreme beauty of the nest of the utterer, an 120 BRITISH BIRDS. instance of the association of ideas with parallel cases to which every field- ornithologist must be familiar. Prosaically described, it might be said to resemble the rattling of loose cog-wheels. Naumann, who only knew the Mealy Redpole in winter, evidently never heard the song; nor is there any thing in Newton or Dresser’s descriptions to lead one to suppose that either of them ever heard more than the winter twitterings of the Red- pole. Collett, speaking of the Mealy Redpoles in Norway, mentions “a prolonged trill” which is only heard in the breeding-season ; and I noticed exactly the same in Siberia, except that the trill was of a slightly different character. The trill of our bird is caused by the rapid repetition of a double note, whilst that of the Siberian bird is produced by the repetition of a single note, and thus the character of the rattling of loose cog-wheels is gone. Our information respecting the song of the Greenland race is still more meagre. Any one who compares my description of the song of the Waxwing published in 1873 (Dresser, ‘ Birds of Europe, iii. p. 436) with Holbdll’s description of the note of the Greenland Redpole translated and published by Dresser in 1876 (op. cit. iv. p. 56) will, however, come to the conclusion that it does not differ much from that of our bird. I wrote of the Waxwing, “The only note I heard wasa sort of cir-ar-ir-ir-re, very similar to a well-known note of the Blue Tit. Occasionally this succession of notes was repeated so rapidly as to form a trilla, like the song of the Lesser Redpole.” Holbdéll wrote of the Arctic Redpole, “ Its call- note, which is never responded to by F. linaria, is shrill, and is not unlike that of the Waxwing.”’ In the nesting-habits of the Redpoles there is no difference amongst the three races. As a rule the nest is placed in low bushes. At Sheffield I have taken it in the brushwood during a ramble from my house before breakfast. It is especially common on the birches and alders over- hanging the Derwent near Ashopton. I have also found it in the same district in trees fifteen to twenty feet from the ground. At Tromso, on the Norwegian coast, I have taken the nest in birch trees; but on the tundras of both Siberia in Europe and Siberia in Asia, as well as in Greenland, this bird breeds exclusively on willow or birch bushes three or four feet from the ground, for the sufficient reason that in these regions loftier trees do not exist. Even in England the Redpole is a late breeder, a somewhat remarkable fact in the history of a resident bird. In Yorkshire I have seldom taken eggs before the first of June, but in the south of England it is said to breed a month earlier. In the valley of the Petchora we took fresh eggs in the last week of June, but in the valley of the Yenesay, in lat. 703°, I found fresh eggs in the middle of July ; but these were a second laying, the first, which were laid in the middle of June, having been destroyed by the floods which covered every bush on the island: so that the Redpole is amongst REDPOLES. 121 the earliest birds to breed in this locality. In Alaska Dall found fresh eggs in the first week of June. In Greenland the bird appears to be an early breeder, as I have anest and eggs taken on the 10th of June; and Kriiper found nearly fledged young birds of the Arctic Redpole on an island near Iceland on the 12th of June. He also found other nests with eggs on the same day. There is no difference whatever in the nests from various localities ; they are all composed of a few slender twigs in the foundations, and built up of dry grass-stalks and a little moss, profusely lined with the down from the cotton-grass, or from willow-catkins, or, if these materials are not obtainable, with white Ptarmigan feathers, hair, or wool. The lining is generally more or less interwoven into the sides of the nest, which can scarcely be matched for delicacy and beauty. In size there is not much local variation. ‘The inside cup varies in England and Siberia from 13 to 2 inches in diameter by 1 to 14 inch deep. My Greenland nest does not exceed my largest English nest in size. In England the size of the eggs varies from ‘65 to ‘6 inch by °5 to °42, in Siberia from °75 to ‘65 inch by °55 to ‘5, and in Greenland from ‘8 to ‘7 inch by ‘56 to 52. The ground-colour varies from bluish green to greenish blue, and does not differ locally. The overlying specks, spots, and blotches, principally at the large end of the egg, are dark reddish brown, and those which are under- lying pale reddish brown. Some eggs are much more marked than others, and some in my collection from the valley of the Petchora are very boldly streaked. The seeds of the birch are the favourite food of the Redpole; but it will eat almost any other kind of seed, and in summer it feeds on insects. It is a favourite cage-bird, becoming very tame, and will learn tricks like a Goldfinch, and is very fond of climbing all over its cage. The adult male Lesser Redpole in breeding-plumage has the general colour of the upper parts rufescent brown, with a dark centre to each feather ; the wings and tail are brown, with obscure pale margins; the median and greater wing-coverts with broad tips, and the innermost secondaries with broad margins of pale rufous-brown. It has a crimson patch on the crown and a distinct trace of crimson on the rump; the underparts are buffish white, suffused with crimson on the breast and shading into rufescent brown on the flanks, the feathers of which have dark centres ; the chin and upper throat are dark brown. Bill yellow, brown at the point; legs, feet, and claws nearly black; irides hazel. Females have no red on the breast or rump, and are more streaked on the breast and flanks, but otherwise resemble males. After the autumn moult the margins to the feathers hide the obscure traces of crimson on the breast, head, and rump, causing the male: scarcely to differ from the female ; but as the season advances these margins drop off, and the crimson gradually intensifies, not by a moult, but by a change in the colour of the 122 BRITISH BIRDS. feather, but very seldom strongly marked before the end of February or early in March. Males of the year resemble females, but occasionally have