FRINGILLIDAE—FINCHES.
113
blackish-brown, edged with dirty white ; over each eye there is a light stripe,
and the sides of the neck are light; bill and legs horn-colour. Mr. J. H. Gur-
ney, jun., who has also inspected the bird, is inclined to think it may be a female
Cape Canary. He writes : " It resembles a very large hen Serin, with a darker
crown, and darkish ' whiskers.' There is no yellow anywhere, except on the
rump, and very little there." Mr. Backhouse, who has also seen the specimen,
thinks it maybe a hybrid Serin of some kind. About this specimen Mr. G. E.
Lodge writes (40. xiii. 29) :—
" A short time ago, hearing of some ' English Wild Canaries ' at a bird-
stuffer's at Saffron Walden, I went to see what they might he, and here give a
description of them. One, which was living in a cage with some Redpolls
and a Twite, looked almost exactly like a hen Siskin, except that it had a
very short and stout beak almost like that of a Bullfinch. A light yellow
stripe over the eye was very conspicuous. This bird was caught near Saffron
Walden. The others, (there were two more) were stuffed, and the owner told
me that one of them was caught near London, and had been living in the
Zoo. This was a much more gaily-coloured bird than the living one. The
forehead, throat, sides of neck just behind the auriculars, and breast being bright
greenish-yellow, with a few dark streaks on the flanks. The back was much
greyer than a cock Siskin's, with dark streak down centre of each feather,
getting yellowish-green lower down, and tail-coverts the same colour as the
back ; top of head plain greyish-green. I suppose they were cock and hen
Serin Finch ; but as I have never before seen a specimen of this bird I am not
certain about them."
Greenfinch : Ligurinus chloris.
An abundant resident.
The Rev. J. C. Atkinson
writes (36. 78) that in a thick
thorn hedge " bordering an
orchard in Essex, of perhaps
seventy or eighty yards long,
1 found one day a dozen or
more of Greenfinches' nests,
almost all with eggs in."
Mr. J. H. Hills, of Prested
Hall, Feering, has a specimen
of a mixed white, creamy, and
bright yellow colour, shot
there by himself in December,
1874.
Locally, " Green Linnet."
Hawfinch : Coccothraustes vulgaris.
A resident, and a much commoner one than is usually sup-
I