The colours of the female are more uniform; she is brown where the male is black, and only a rusty colour where he is red. Independently of the varieties produced by age, and which are tolerably numerous, without being very remarkable, there are some more remarked, such as those with a white head, a back quite white, &c. HABITATION.--In their wild state this species is scattered throughout Europe; however, it is most probable that in the summer they only inhabit the northern parts. During the three other seasons they are found everywhere in Germany, particularly where there are large forests. When beech-mast is plentiful in Thuringia the mountain finches assemble in immense numbers, it is supposed more than 100,000. In the house they are kept in a cage or not, according as they are esteemed; where they are common they are not thought worthy of one, but allowed to range at will. FOOD.--Wild, and in confinement, it is the same as the chaffinch's. MODE OF TAKING.--This bird's note of call is _ïak, ïak, quääk_, and as the two first sounds are the same as that of the chaffinch, they will come at its call, and fly in its company. They also afford the best sport with a net, for in autumn hundreds may be taken at one cast. In winter they are caught near barns under nets, or even under common sieves; and in spring on a decoy bush, at the call of the chaffinch, if one of its own species cannot be procured. ATTRACTIVE QUALITIES.--We cannot boast of sweetness in the song of this bird, as it consists of low whistling, or a kind of warbling, intermixed at intervals with a shrill "_raitch_," the whole somewhat resembling the first exercises of the chaffinch; but this wretched warbling may be improved by education. A mountain finch placed by the side of a chaffinch that sung well, learnt to imitate it tolerably, but I must confess that it never attained great perfection. I should warn bird-fanciers who wish to keep these birds for the beauty of their plumage, not to let them range with many companions, for they are quarrelsome, and very lavish in distributing severe pecks, especially if food is not very abundant. In Thuringia they are kept in cages to be employed as lures in the area or decoy enclosure. It is said that it is easier to teach them to go and come than the chaffinch. THE HOUSE SPARROW. Passer domestica, RAY; Le Moineau franc, BUFFON; Der Haussperling, BECHSTEIN. Though this and the following species cannot be reckoned among those that are pleasant in a room, yet I must not omit them on account of their being easily preserved, and though distinguished neither for their song nor their colours, yet they make up for the want of these by agreeable qualities, that many, much more admired, do not possess.