66 THE BIRDS or XERHICK HOUSE. 



tlie renowned aud worthy " Vicar of Wakefield," and of his lady, the exem- 

 plary Mrs. Primrose: their "migrations" amounting to little more than an 

 occasional removal " from the blue bed of flowers," or, more properly, from 

 the bed of blue flowers, "to the brown" patch set apart for the cultivation of 

 esculents ; or from one part of the garden or gi-ounds to another : and when 

 protection is given them, as would universally be the case if people were not 

 unfortunately troubled with an obliquity of vision with reference to their 

 own interests, they are often found to resort to the very same spot for the 

 purpose of building, year after year. A pair built, for several years in suc- 

 cession on a branch of an Orleans Plum tree, which was trained against the 

 wall in the garden of Henry Eustace, Esq. ; and another pair among some 

 Rosemary growing against the same wall. I have no doubt that, in the for- 

 mer case, the same pair of birds, or their immediate descendants, constructed 

 each successive nest ; as a peculiarity in the lining ran through the entire 

 series ; the arched feathers of domestic fowl, from the poultry-yard, being 

 almost exclusively employed for the purpose. The egg of the Cuckoo is often 

 palmed off" upon this bird ; who hatches and rears the young, to the certain 

 destruction of its own legitimate ofi'spring. 



Near the top of this same shrub, the Greenfinch {Coccothraustes chloris) 

 has a nest. This nest is by no means unlike the last : like it, it is composed 

 of small sticks, green moss, wool, &c. ; and like it, lined with hair, and in 

 most cases, a few feathers : it is by far the least interesting-looking of the 

 nests of the Finch tribe. The eggs — five, and sometimes six, in number — 

 vary a good deal in colour and markings : some are freckled all over with pale 

 yellowish brown, bearing a strong resemblance to the eggs of the Redbreast ; 

 others are blotched with dark purplish red, or liver colour; while, between 

 these two extreme varieties, are numberless intermediate ones ; and some, 

 again, are streaked after the manner of the eggs of the Yellow Bunting. I 

 have some which might readily pass for the latter species, except that they 

 are rather smaller in size. They ai-e usually rather elongated in shajje. Tall 

 hedge-rows and evergreen shrubs are principally selected by this bird, as 

 proper situations for the nest; though it may frequently be found placed 

 against the trunk of an Elm, especially if the tree be encircled with Ivy, 

 supported by a small diverging branch, eight or ten feet from the ground. 



After harvest, these birds are found in considerable flocks among the 

 stubbles ; and, as winter comes on, they approach the farmer's stack-yards, 

 feeding upon the loose grain which may there be found. If the agriculturist 

 could keep an accurate debtor and creditor account between himself and this 

 bird, he would undoubtedly find, at the end of the year, a "considerable 

 balance due to the bird ; for, although it may destroy some portion of his 

 grain and seed crops, — being extremely fond of turnip and rape seeds, as 

 well as having a taste for wheat and barley, and still coarser fare, beans and 

 })eas, — there would j'et be an immense set off in its consumption of the 



