They were both killed at a single shot ; but the female was not found. The male is now in the museum at
Berlin. Later, another pair were also shot.

‘<« This bird does not, according to my observations, like large thick woods. I have seen it where there
was none at all, namely, at Sylt, in Jutland. In one part of this island there are no other species of trees
but small thorn bushes; and in the northern part, where, between high sand-downs, a narrow creek runs into
the land, is a little thicket surrounded by a low earthen wall, in which is the renowned duck-decoy. The
ponds, canals, and the decoy-man’s house are all surrounded by alder trees au ee bushes. There Is also
a thick reed-bank about 10 feet high, which is all the protection that the neighbouring Sorts receive from
the devastating north-west storms. Altogether it is not more ion a hundred paces in circuit. ike wood
is quite stunted, yet it is, for such a neighbourhood, a very interesting ue and for me it became still more
so when I met with a Scarlet Bullfinch, which I had never seen before in its free state. Te male came to
within fifteen paces, into a thorn bush, and sang. It allowed itself to be observed freely, without any marks
of fear. The female was not to be seen, nor the young, which had already (June 7th) left the nest. The
old decoy-man, who chiefly dwelt there, knew of the nest, and took me to it, assuring me that these birds had
for many years bred there, and that they were not rare in the island.

eens When with my friends Von Woldicke and Boie, I last approached the celebrated decoy at Sylt, I heard
the song at a considerable distance ; and I drew their attention to it, that there might be no mistake. The
resemblance of the song to some of the notes of the Reed-Bunting, as well as to those of the Linnet, both of
which birds live in the same neighbourhood, is very remarkable. It is a very agreeable, loud, long, and, with
many slight pauses, unbroken song, and is so peculiar that an ear like mine, which from earliest youth has
been accustomed to observe the song of birds, can distinguish it in the far distance. In a neighbourhood
where little can escape the eye, this beautifully-plumaged songster was easily recognized ; and as we did not
like to shoot it, we placed ourselves at a short distance, where, unseen, we were able to observe it for a con-
siderable time. It may be an agreeable cage-bird ; but in confinement the red plumage turns into a perma-
nent yellowish green.’

“The Scarlet Bulfinch lives upon various kinds of seeds, more especially, according to Dubois, those of
an oily nature, as well as those of the elm or alder. Naumann also suggests that it feeds upon the seeds of
the reeds among which it likes to live. The same authority informs us that it nests among the woody plan-
tations in the neighbourhood of St. Petersburg.

‘Brehm, in Badeker’s work upon European eggs, gives the following notice of the nidification of this
bird :—‘ They nest in the thick woods and bushes of Siberia, in Lausatia, in the neighbourhood of Galitz, in
Galicia, and in Poland, near Warsaw, where it is found in swampy situations overgrown with alder trees.
Once in June it was met with, paired, in Ruthendorf. The nest is placed in a bush, and is made of moss,
sticks, dry twigs, and sheep’s wool, and is lined with hair and wool. The eggs area lively blue-green, more
or less marked with black or brownish dots and spots at the larger end. They are inclined to pear-shape in
form, without being like those of other Bullfinches, swollen in the middle.’

“In the first part of the ‘Bulletin of the Imperial Society of Naturalists of Moscow’ for 1860 there is an
article by Alexander von Nordmann upon the birds of Finland and Lapland, in which he states that this bird
is very common in Southern Finland, which was not the case, according to the testimony of his father, thirty
years ago. It builds every year in the Botanical Gardens at Helsingfors, in the tops of the maple and
Carangana sibirica. It arrives about the middle of May ; and the young are fledged by the 25th of June.”

“The Rose Finch,” says Dr. Jerdon, ‘is found as a cold-weather visitant throughout the greater part
of India ; is somewhat rare towards the south, but common in the central and northern provinces, and in the
Himalayas, chiefly, however, at the foot of the hills and in the valleys; and it extends into Assam and Arracan.
It visits the plains during October, and leaves in April. In March many are taken in fine breeding-livery.

In the extreme south I have chiefly seen it in bamboo jungle, feeding on the seeds of bamboos on several

occasions ; and so much is this its habit, that the Telugu name Yedru

-pichike, or Yedrujinoway?, signifies
*‘ Bamboo-Sparrow.’

In other parts of the country it frequents alike groves, gardens, and jungles, feeding
on various seeds and grain, and not unfrequently on flower-buds and young leaves. Adams states that in
Cashmere it feeds much on the seeds of a cultivated vetch. Now and then it is seen in large flocks, but in

general it associates in small parties. It breeds in Northern Asia. It is frequently caught and caged, and
has rather a pleasing song.”

r
lhe Plate represents a male and a female on a branch of larch.