with the distal half of the inner web white—the proportion
of white increasing in each feather from within outward ;
chin and throat velvet black; sides of the neck, the breast
and belly, pale nutmeg-brown ; vent and lower tail-coverts
dull white : legs, toes and claws, pale wood-brown.
The whole length is fully seven inches; from the carpal
joint to the end of the wing, four inches : the second, third
and fourth primaries very nearly equal, but the third rather
the longest; the fifth an eighth of an inch shorter than the
fourth; the sixth three-eighths of an inch shorter than the
fifth : the tail very slightly forked.
In the female, the black frontal line and lores are much
less conspicuous than in the male, and the patch on the chin
is smaller; the colours generally are much less bright, and
more blended the top of the head, rump and tail-coverts in
particular wanting the warm tint of the male ; the white
of the larger wTing-coverts is more mixed with brown, and
the outer webs of the tertials are bluish-grey.
In the young, and in the adults during winter, the bill is
of a pinkish flesh-colour, inclining to pale brown on the
lidge; the head, neck, and upper parts, yellowish olive-
brown ; the bar on the wing less conspicuous; the throat
yellow, hounded by a small line of brown spots, indicating
the outline of the black gular patch in the adults ; lower
parts pale yellowish-brown, each feather tipped with darker
brown.
p a s s e b .e s . F R IN GIL L ID jE.
C o c c o th r a u st e s c h l o r is (Linnaeus*).
THE GREENFINCH.
Coccothraustes ckloris.
T h e G r e e n f in c h or Green Linnet, or Green Grosbeak
as some book-makers have called it, is one of our commonest
birds, and remains in this country throughout the
year, changing its station occasionally to obtain food or
shelter fin severe weather. It frequents gardens, small
woods, and enclosed fields, being seldom seen far from trees
or hedges, though it finds its living chiefly on the ground,
where it searches for grain, seeds or insects. The notes of
this bird are somewhat harsh and wanting in melody, but *
* Loxia chloris, Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 304.