The CARMINE BULLFINCH, or RIBAND FINCH (_Erythrothorax erythrinus_)
is six inches long and ten inches across the wings. The wing and tail
feathers are deep brown, the upper part of the neck bright carmine, and
the breast white, marked with carmine red. The male of a year old and the
female resemble the female linnet. The Carmine Bullfinches inhabit woods
and districts covered with reeds in the north of Europe and Asia, and
are found in great numbers in Sweden, Finland, and Russia. According to
Jerdon, this species is also met with as a winter guest throughout India,
being seen very frequently in the north, but more rarely in the southern
parts of that country, principally inhabiting mountainous districts. "I
have," he says, "generally found this bird in the bamboo plantations;
indeed, it is called in the Telegu dialect the _Bamboo Sparrow_; it
also frequents gardens and thickets, and lives almost exclusively
upon the seeds of the bamboo and of various other plants." The Carmine
Bullfinch is often captured on account of its agreeable song: Radde met
with it on the Steppes and at Baikal, but more frequently on the banks
of rivers, and sometimes saw solitary individuals even at an altitude
of 8,000 feet above the level of the sea. We are not much acquainted
with the habits of this bird, but know that it prefers well-watered or
boggy plantations, and feeds upon various kinds of seeds, amongst which
we must no doubt include those of reeds, as it is principally met with
where beds of the latter are to be found. In its demeanour it reminds
us as much of a linnet as of a bullfinch. Its movements are light, its
flight undulating, and its call a clear piping note. Blyth tell us that
the "Tuti," as this species is called in India, has a weak, twittering,
but gentle and expressive voice, the sound of which is something between
that of a goldfinch and a linnet, while its call resembles that of the
canary. In Kamschatka its notes have been imagined to sound like the
Russian sentence, "_Tschewitschu widal--I have seen the Tschewitschu_,"
the Tschewitschu being a large kind of salmon, which is the most
highly-prized fish of that country, forming, as it does, a valued article
of food; so that the song of the Carmine Bullfinch is not only looked
upon as a herald of spring, but as announcing the blessings that she
brings in her train. The nest is built in clumps of willows or canes, and
always in the vicinity of water; it is formed of the stalks of plants,
straw, or fibrous roots, and is lined with wool or horsehair. The eggs
are larger than those of the linnet, and of a green colour, with red
spots spread most thickly over the broad end. Tame Carmine Bullfinches
are considered great curiosities; whilst writing, however, we are so
fortunate as to have a male of this species before us. When it first
came into our possession, the autumnal moulting was just commencing, and
continued until December, leaving the once beautiful creature with a dull
coat. Towards the middle of February it began to sing so charmingly as
quite to exceed all our expectations. Naturalists who have described the
notes of this bird have not by any means done it justice, for its song
may bear comparison with that of the most gifted Finches; its voice is
as melodious as it is copious. The call is uttered loudly, the actual
song, on the contrary, being very soft, reminds us of the tones of the
goldfinch, linnet, and canary. The habits of our tame bird are very
entertaining; it is constantly in motion, hops about its cage with much
alacrity, and will hang like a titmouse from the wires at the top. The
shyness it at first exhibited has quite disappeared, and it now greets
its acquaintance with a cry of recognition. It eats millet, canary-seed,
and ants' eggs, taking but few of the latter; nor does it seem partial
to green food. The Carmine Bullfinch is replaced in America by a similar
bird, and a species very closely allied to it is found in Arabia Petræa.
[Illustration: THE DESERT TRUMPETER (_Bucanetes githogeneus_).]