Godey's Lady's Book

GODEY'S LADY'S BOOK
Philadelphia, April 1850

CAGE BIRDS.

BY ANNA C. AUSTIN.

THE BULLFINCH.

OF the cage birds brought from foreign countries, this is one of the most pleasing. Those among us are from England. The bullfinch is short and thick, like most of the species of the genus Loxia. Its length is six inches and three-quarters, of which the tail measures two inches and three-quarters. The beak is half an inch long, black, short, and thick; the irides chestnut. The feet are slender and black. The vertex, the margin of the base of the bill, and the chin, as well as the beginning of the throat, are of a shining velvet black; the upper part of the neck, the back, and the scapulars, dark ashy gray; the rump of a beautiful white; the front of the neck, the robust breast, and the upper part of the abdomen, of a beautiful carmine, paler in the young, redder in the adult; the rest of the under part of the body white; the pinion feathers blackish, the darker the nearer they approach the body; the posterior ones of a steel blue on the external margin, the last red upon the external web; the large coverts of the wings of a beautiful glittering black, with reddish gray tips, the middle ones ashy gray; the smallest, blackish ashy gray, with reddish edges, the tail somewhat forked, and of a glittering steel blue black.

The female differs materially from the male, having all the red parts reddish gray, the black brownish, ashy gray, with the feet paler. She is also smaller.

There are varieties, which have, indeed, been treated as distinct species—namely, a larger kind, of a size of a redwing thrush; one of a middle size, as large as a common chaffinch; and a smaller which is said to be considerably less than a chaffinch; but they are all accidental varieties, such as occur in all birds.

In Europe, the bullfinch is found as high up as Sweden and throughout Russia. In Germany, it is very common in the mountain forests. Male and female associate in pairs almost throughout the year. In winter, they roam hither and thither in search of berries. When caught, they may be placed in a room or a cage with other birds; they soon get reconciled to the change. Birds already instructed should be placed in a large, handsome bell-shaped cage, which ought to be hung in a separate room, otherwise the notes of other singing birds will speedily spoil their acquired melodies. Their food

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