178 ENGLISH BIRD LIFE 



loved coppice. Even when tall hedges intersect a 

 country otherwise devoid of wood, he is not at 

 home. Although he may be seen feeding upon the 

 seeds of the dock and other plants which grow on 

 the edges of moors and commons, his true haunt 

 is never far away from the leafv recesses into which 

 he may retire at the first appearance of danger. 



The cock Bullfinch, with his jet-black head, pink 

 breast and ash-grey back, is so handsome a bird 

 that he at once arrests attention. It is always a 

 delightful thing when wandering in some winding 

 lane in a land of orchards and flowering hawthorns 

 to hear his faint call-note, and to catch a glimpse of 

 the broad bar of white above the black tail, as, 

 with his sober coloured mate, he flits along the 

 hedgeside. He is a warv bird, however, showing 

 little of the confidence in man which so many of his 

 kin display, and if one approaches without circum- 

 spection, he at once disappears in the seclusion of 

 the nearest wood.> Draw near to him carefully, 

 how'ever, taking advantage of a sudden bend in the 

 way, and one mav see him in his habit as he lives. 

 On the deep hanging bank, overgrown with tangled 

 grass and trailing branches of hawthorn and honey- 

 suckle, the dock plants grow- high in the autumn, 

 and stand with their pyramids of brown seed clear 

 against the dull green of the surrounding herbage. 

 As one rests in a hidden nook, the Bullfinch sud- 

 denly drops from the hedge and clings to the stem 

 which bends beneath his weight. Here, on his 

 swinging perch, he picks up the seed with great 

 rapidity, and one has time to note the glowing hues 

 of his plumage and also to realize the havoc even 



