F emale*
w
77'*
STRASBURG F.
D e s c r i p t io n .
The female wants the red fpot on the rump. It is moft: probable
that this and the laft-defcribed are mere varieties of each
other. Mr. Pennant feems of this opinion, by placing them as
one fpecies; and I Ihould readily join him, did not fVillughby
exprefsly fay, that his Mountain Linnet is fix inches and a half, or
two inches longer than the prefent fpecies. This, however, may
be a miftake, as the common Linnet is only five inches and a
half. As to the prefence, or want, of the red on the head, which
feems to conftitute another effential difference, the time of the
year, age or fex of the bird, or other circumftances, may have
given rife to a double defcription. We have feen one of thefe*,
in which the forehead, rump, and breaft, were all of them
red.
1Twites are taken in the flight-feafon near London, along with
other Linnets. It is probable that the name has been taken from
their twittering note, having no mufic in i t ; and indeed the bird-
catchers will tell at fome diftance whether there be any Twites
mixed among Linnets, merely 1 from this circumftance. The
Twite is fuppofed to breed in the more northern parts of our
ifland.
La Linotte de Strafbourg, Brif. orn. ni. p. 146. 34.
Le Gyntel de Straiburgh, Bu f. oif. iv. p. 73.
C I Z E of the common Linnet. The head and upper parts, as-
^far as the rump, brown . beneath, as far as the upper part of
the belly, hnd fides, rufous, fpotted with brown : the belly and
vent whitifh: quills and tail brown : legs reddifh.
* In the Leverian Mufeuvu
IQ
Inhabits
Inhabits the environs of Strajbourg, where it is called Gyntel.
Is faid to lay as far as four eggs.
Place.
La Linotted’Angola, Brif orn. Supp. p. 81. 71.
La Vengoline, Buf. oif. iv. p. 80— Br. Zool. 8vo. vol. ii. App. p. 666,
Linnets from Angola, Edw* pi* 129.
C I Z E of our Linnet. The bill brown j the feathers round
^ the bafe black : the upper parts of the head, neck, and body,
brownifh afh-colour, each feather darker in the middle: round
the eyes, and on each fide of the throat, white: the under parts
of a plain dull orange : the rump, and upper tail coverts, bright
yellow : the greater wing coverts and quills brown, edged with
yellow: tail the fame, edged with grey: legs flefh-colour.
The female has the upper parts rufous brown, each feather
darkeft in the middle: fides. of the head pale rufous: near the
bafe of the bill a brown mark, which paffes towards the hind
head :■ from the breaft to the vent pale rufous, fpotted with
brown : the reft partly like the male.
Thefe came from Angola, where the male bears the name of
2Sfegral, or Tobaque-, the female, Benguelinha. Indeed their being
of oppofite fexes is not certain: Mr. Edwards only fuppofes i t ;
and it .is probable, that, as they are both faid to fing well, they
may have been males of two different fpecies, as females in general
feldom have a fine fong. The laft-named bird is moft
likely the Vengoline, mentioned by the Hon. D. Barrington ,
which he fays fings better than any bird that is not Europan,
except the American Mocking Bird.
• See his Experiments and Obfervations on the finging of birds. Phil.Tranf
*773*- La
78- _
ANGOLA F.
D e s c r i p t i o n .
F emale*
Place*