. A history of British birds : the figures engraved on wood . ts olive green; the greater coverts and outer edgesof the secondary quills ash-coloured ; the vent and tailcoverts the same, dashed with yellow; the rump yellow. These birds are common in every part of Great Bri-tain, They do not migrate, but change their quartersaccording to the season of the year. They keep togetherin small flocks during the extremity of winter, when theydraw to the shelter of villages and farm yards, and dis-perse to breed in the spring. The female makes hernest in hedges or low bushes ; it is composed of drygras
. A history of British birds : the figures engraved on wood . ts olive green; the greater coverts and outer edgesof the secondary quills ash-coloured ; the vent and tailcoverts the same, dashed with yellow; the rump yellow. These birds are common in every part of Great Bri-tain, They do not migrate, but change their quartersaccording to the season of the year. They keep togetherin small flocks during the extremity of winter, when theydraw to the shelter of villages and farm yards, and dis-perse to breed in the spring. The female makes hernest in hedges or low bushes ; it is composed of drygrass, and lined with hair, wool, and other warm mate-rials J she lays five or six eggs, of a pale greenish colour. 160 BRITISH BIRDS. marked at the larger end with spots of a reddish brown;she is so close a sitter, that she may sometimes be takenon her nest. The male is very attentive to his mate dur-ing the time of incubation, and takes his turn in not distinguished for its song, this bird is some-times kept in a cage^ and soon becomes THE BULLFINCH. ALP, OR NOPE.(Lcxia Pyrrhula, Lin.—Le Bouvreuil, BufF.) The bill is dusky ; eyes black ; the upper part of thehead, the ring round the bill, and the origin of the neck,are of a fine glossy black ; * the back ash colour j thebreast and belly red ; wings and tail black; the uppertail coverts and vent are white ; legs dark brown. Thefemale is very like the male, but the colours in generalare less bright, and the under parts of a reddish brov/n. f * Hence in some countries it is called Mcn^ or Pope, and inScotland it is not improperly denominated Coally-hood. f The Bullfinch sometimes changes its plumage, and becomes BRITISH BIRDS. 161 This bird is common in every part of this island, aswell as in most parts of Europe; its usual haunts, duringsummer, are in woods and thickets, but in winter it ap-proaches nearer to cultivated grounds, and feeds on seeds,winter berries, &c. *, in the spring it frequents gardens,
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