1884.] THE HAWFINCH, OR GROSBEAK. 181 



The length of the adult male is seven inches. It owns a somewhat 

 short and stumpy tail. 



Like other finches, the Hawfinch feeds in summer partly on 

 insects and their larvre. 



Gilbert White's friend ' B.' opened the crop of a Hawfinch, which 

 had haunted his garden for a fortnight, and which he thought must 

 have stripped the fruit bushes of their buds. But instead of finding 

 buds he discovered only kernels and fruit stones. He afterwards 

 observed it cracking damson stones. 



Among all the Finches he owns the biggest bill, the best adapted 

 for berry-breaking, and hence his name of Coccothraustes. 



First upon the list of the seeds and berries which the Grosbeak feeds 

 upon, is that of the hornbeam ; and then follow the seeds of the beech, 

 elm, ash, and maple, and the berries of the juniper, service-tree, holly, 

 whitethorn, and hemp, besides the stones of various fruits, 

 plimi-stones and laurel berries ; and, scandal adds, green pens in the 

 season, which if it be true, might be avoided in the case of a bird so 

 shy. I have several times observed the Hawfinch in Bichmond Park 

 in close attendance upon the very noble specimens of the hornbeam 

 which grow near Pembroke Lodge. 



The pairing season commences in the middle of April. The nest 

 is placed very frequently in some scrubby hawthorn, or among the 

 spreading arms of great oaks, or in hollies or fir-trees standing in 

 plantations. Its elevation from the ground varies from five to thirty 

 feet, and I have seen the nest previous to the leafing of the hornbeam 

 very much exposed for so shy a bird. It is a much more slovenly affair 

 than would suit the tastes of finches in general, consisting of a structure 

 too loosely put together to bear removal without tumbling into 

 ruin, and composed, in some nests which I have noticed, of twigs of 

 oak and honeysuckle mixed with grey lichen, and lined with fine roots 

 and hair. Instead of being neat and round, like the nests of other 

 Finches, it is a sort of cup-shaped platform, formed of comparatively 

 coarse materials, and furnished with eggs of pale olive-green spotted 

 with black, and from four to six in number. The young birds are 

 hatched about the third week in May. 



As a songster, the Hawfinch takes the rank of a second-rate 

 performer only ; still he assists the variety of the bird-concert in 

 spring, and on warm days occasionally warbles an acceptable ditty ; 

 in winter, a kind of low whistling, with some admixture of tones 

 that are rather harsh. 



I hope these notes on the Hawfinch may prove interesting to some of 

 the readers of ' Forestey,' and enable them to recognise this bird of 

 w^oods and tree-tops, if they do not already know it. 



H. E. 



