The birds of Europe (1837) (14565320188)

Identifier: birdsEuropeIIIGoul (find matches)
Title: The birds of Europe
Year: 1837 (1830s)
Authors: Gould, John, 1804-1881
Subjects: Pictorial works Birds
Publisher: London, Printed by R. and J.E. Taylor, pub. by the author
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library



Text Appearing Before Image:
, of vegetable fibres and grasses linedwith wool. The eggs are five in number, marked at the larger end with brown dots on a white ground. Itsfood, like that of the Finches in general, consists of seeds, such as hemp, plantain, &c. The sexes differ in plumage, that of the male being distinguished by the greater predominance of richyellow; it may be thus described : Forehead, throat, circle round the eyes, breast, and rump fine yellow ; back of the head and upper surfacegreenish olive dashed longitudinally with dusky brown ; ear-coverts dusky olive ; flanks olive grey withstripes of brown ; abdomen white ; quills and tail blackish brown ; hides dark brown. The female, with which the young male agrees very closely, wants the yellow forehead, and her chest isdull yellow, thickly spread over with longitudinal dashes of brown ; the upper surface is less bright than inthe male, and the rump has only a trace of the fine yellow. We have figured a male and female of the natural size. #?/4*
Text Appearing After Image:
■ • n*lj,J££(mU. Caxduehs eiegaus/Stej ■ -■■■■■ ■ -;;-t/irfu<);t-W, Genus CARDUELIS. Gen. Char. Bill conical, longer than deep, compressed anteriorly, and drawn to a very acutepoint; culmen of each mandible narrow; tomia of the upper mandible angulated at thebase, and slightly sinuated. Nostrils basal, lateral, and hidden by incumbent bristles.Wings of mean length; the first quill-feather rather shorter than the second and third ;which are nearly equal, and the longest of all. Tail rather short and forked. Legs havingthe tarsi short; lateral toes of equal length. Claws curved and acute ; hind toe tolerablystrong, with the sole broad. GOLDFINCH. Carduelis elegans, Steph.Le Gros-bec Chardonneret. The present beautiful species, with one characterized by us from the Himalaya mountains under the name ofCarduelis caniceps, and an undescribed species from China, should form, we conceive, a restricted genus, fromwhich we would exclude the Siskin and several others which