coverts pure white, the lowest tier of those which cover the
secondaries deep black at the base, broadly tipped with white
and often tinged with yellow, thus forming two conspicuous
white bars across each wing ; the rest of the wing-coverts
and the quills dusky black, the latter narrowly edged with
greyish-white, the inner primaries having also a white patch
at the base of the outer weh ; the tertials broadly margined
with yellowish-white; the two middle tail-feathers greyish-
black, the next three pairs dull black; the next pair dull
black, with a narrow white outer margin and a triangular
white patch on the inner web; the outer pair black only at
the base along the shaft and on both sides of it near the tip,
the rest being white; the cheeks, ear-coverts, chin, throat,
breast and flanks, a rich reddish-brown, becoming paler on
the belly and lower tail-coverts : legs, toes and claws, brown.
In winter the bill is of a brownish flesh-colour: the
plumage of the upper parts, hut especially of the head, is
obscured by the long brown margins of the feathers. The
edging of the tertials is ochreous, and the white of the wings
is often tinged with yellow, while the colouring of the breast
is much less bright.
The whole length is six inches; that of the wing, three
inches and three-eighths; the third and fourth primaries
are equal and the longest in the wing, but the fifth is nearly
equal to them and longer than the second, which again is
longer than the sixth: the first being, as already stated
among the generic characters, almost obsolete.
The female has the head and back hair-brown, darkest on
the sides, with a very perceptible pale patch on the nape;
the rump and tail-coverts are much more dingy than in the
male; the lower parts are of a dull fawn colour, and the
black of the quills is less pure, but the two white bars on
the wings are rather less conspicuous.
The young in their nestling plumage much resemble the
adult female, but their colours are less vivid and more
blended.
Both this species and the next have some long, fine hairs
growing among the feathers at the, back of the head.
F r in g il l a m o n t if r in g il l a , Linnaeus*.
THE BBAMBLING.
Fringilla montifringilla.
T h e B-R.AM-RT.mft or Mountain-Einch, as some British
authors have chosen to call it, is an autumnal visitor to
these islands, coming from the north and passing the winter
with us; but in many places throughout the country it
appears very irregularly, both as regards numbers and time of
arrival. It is said to have been seen on the Cumberland
hills as early as the middle of August, hut this statement,
made in Bewick’s work, if it did not arise in error, can
hardly he matched elsewhere. Even on the north-east coast
of Great Britain it does not usually appear until about the
* Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 318 (1766). \