THE BANDED FINCH.
Loxia fasciata, Linnæus; La Collerette Buffon; Der gebänderte Kernbeisser, Bechstein.
This bird is the size of the preceding, about four inches and a half in length. The beak is bluish grey. The feet short and flesh-coloured; the upper part of the body dark reddish ash grey, each feather having two black transverse bands, only one of which is visible; the cheeks and lower mandible are surrounded by a band of dark reddish purple.
The female has not this collar, and its plumage is paler; the under part of its body is red brown, each feather edged with a deeper shade.
Varieties.—The one I have actually before me, and which I received from Mr. Thiem, bird-dealer at Waltershausen, is a fine male, whose plumage is as follows:—
The head is dull orange, with black stripes very near together; the upper part of the neck, the back and rump, are the same shade of orange, but each feather is intersected by a semicircular black line, and terminated by a spot of red brown; the scapular wing coverts and last pen-feathers are dark grey, with transverse angular black bands, and bordered at the tips with red brown.
2. This variety is thus described in Latham’s Synopsis of Birds.
The top of the head, upper part of the neck, and lesser wing coverts, light brown, with semicircular black lines; the cheeks plain brown, but edged at the lower part with bright crimson, below which is a black line; the breast and belly light brown, occasionally marked with semicircular lines; the pen-feathers and tail are brown.