The Telhw Hammer. Emberiza Flava:
Numb. LXVI.
IT is equal to the Chaffinch-, or a little bigger, weighs one Ounce and two
Drams; its Length from the End of the Bill to the End of the Tail is fix
Inches and a half; Breadth when extended ten Inches and a quarter; its
Bill is of a dark dusky Colour, half an Inch long, having a hard Knob in the
upper Chap, to break the Corn, the Sides of the nether Chap turned
inwards and bent together, like the Bunting s ; the Tongue ihorter than
is ufual in other Birds, not reaching beyond the Knob; its Tip horny
and iharp, flit into Filaments; the Eyes Hazel coloured ; the Feet of a
Horn Colour, and the Claws black ; the like Cohefion between the outer-
moft and middle Toe at the Bottom, as in other Birds.
The Throat and Belly are yellow, and the Breaft hath a Tin&ure of
red mingled with it, as alfo the Sides under the Wings; the Head is of a
greeniih yellow fpotted with brown, and above the Shoulders in the lower
Part of the Neck, is a Colour between green and cinereous, or a Compound
of both; the middle Parts of the covert Feathers of the Back and Shoulders
are black, the Edges from green incline to red, and the Rump is
redilh. The Female is all over paler, lefs yellow on the Head, and leis
red on the Breaft, and under the Wings. The quill Feathers of the Wings
are dusky, having their exterior Edges from green inclining to a fordid
white. The Tail is three Inches long, compos’d of twelve Feathers fome-
thing forked, of a brown Colour; the middle two having their Edges on
both Sides, the reft only their outfide Edges green; the two outermoft
on the infide the Shaft, near the Tip, are marked with a white Spot cutting
the Feather obliquely. It hath a Craw, and a mufculous Stomach or
Gizzard like the granivorous Birds, alfo a Gall-bladder ; the blind Guts,
as in almoft all fmall Birds, are very little and ihort. They build on the
Ground, in the Sides of Hedges, and are very common every where in
England.
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