114 British Birds ^ 



Essex, of perhaps seventy or eighty yards long, I 

 found one day a dozen or more of Greenfinches' nests, 

 almost all with eggs in. The nest is, however, not 

 seldom to be met with in an evergreen or other bush 

 in the garden ; sometimes in a fir tree, and again 

 in a fruit or ornamental tree. The materials 

 employed are roots, moss, grass, with a lining 

 of the same, only finer, and plentiful hair. I have 

 often noticed the presence of a kind of scrubby scales 

 about the interior of one of their nests. The eggs are 

 four, five, or six in number, and vary much in size 

 and but little in general appearance. They are white, 

 suff'used with a bluish tinge, and with reddish or 

 purple spots and streaks, intermingled with some of a 

 darker shade. — Fig. 8, plate IV. 



SERIN — {^Serinus hortulanus). 



This is a rare bird, having occurred in only a very 

 few localities. 



GOLDFINCH— (r^r^?^f//i- elegans). 



Thistle-Finch, Gold-spink, Grey Kate, or Pate (the 

 young), Proud Tailor, Goldie, King Harry Redcap. — 

 This beautiful little bird is, I fear, one of those which 

 are much less common in many districts than used to 

 be the case in my younger days. It is much sought 

 after for keeping in cages, and is caught for that 

 purpose in numbers by the professional bird-catchers. 

 It builds a beautifully neat and pretty nest ; some- 

 times in a bush or evergreen, often in the fork of an 

 apple or other fruit-tree, and more rarely in a hedge. 

 It is formed of moss, fir-needles, green bents, wool, 



