HAWFINCH 165 



and habit of slipping out of sight, but of late years it has 

 been found to remain throughout the year, especially in 

 all the old orchards and secluded woods in Kent, where 

 it breeds annually in large numbers. In 1844 an example 

 of the little that was known of this bird's habits was 

 written by the Eev. J. Pemberton Bartlett, in his Orni- 

 thology of Kent, who states that the Hawfinch "visits 

 us in winter, but not in great numbers." Morris, in his 

 History of British Birds, 1852, says : " It has been known 

 to breed regularly near Tenterden, Bexley, Dartford, 

 Maidstone and Penshurst, in Kent." In 1858, Mr. T. 

 W. Greene, of Tonbridge, gave the following particulars 

 of the Hawfinch building there : " A pair of Hawfinches 

 have built their nest this year in an orchard in the 

 vicinity of Tonbridge ; but, unfortunately, the nest has 

 become a prey to a prying school-boy, who took the 

 first egg and substituted in its place a small Blackbird's 

 egg. The next morning another egg was laid, but the 

 Blackbird's was gone ; the birds were then again robbed 

 of their eggs, and have in consequence deserted. Their 

 nest, however, has not been built entirely in vain, for 

 a pair of House-Sparrows, seeing it deserted, are now 

 constructing their clumsy domicile on the top of it." 



In 1867, Lord Chfton, of Cobham Hall, adds the follow- 

 ing respecting the Hawfinch in Kent : " Hawfinches have 

 been unusually numerous here this spring. I saw three 

 on April 13, the first I had ever seen, and became ac- 

 quainted with their note, tzit, or tzit-it, the knowledge 

 of which was of great use to me afterwards in detecting 

 them among the tall leafy hornbeams. On April 25 

 I found a nest begun in a whitethorn, built of sticks, 

 with lichen conspicuously interspersed in it. This I 

 found, from that oft-quoted and very accurate description 



