OUR RARER BIRDS 



love to percli in conspicuous positions when engaged in song ; 

 but tlie Hawfinch twitters from the dense recesses of the foliage 

 and keeps well out of sight amongst the trees. 



The food of the Hawfinch varies a good deal, according to 

 the season of the j^ear. Thus in spring and summer he lives 

 almost exclusively on insects and fruit. He visits the garden 

 for peas and currants, and frequents the orchard in cherry 

 time, always preferring the hard stone of that fruit to its rich 

 luscious covering. In autumn various berries and nuts are 

 eaten. He is passionately fond of beech-mast and the seeds 

 of the hornbeam ; whilst in winter he often makes a meal 

 on the hawthorn berries. Yew berries are eaten in great 

 quantities ; and in early summer caterpillars are devoured, 

 this latter food being the principal sustenance of the young 

 birds. 



The Hawfinch may pair in spring, but not a twig is crossed 



in furtherance of a nest until the first faint signs of summer 



are spreading over the fields and woods. It is not until the 



orchard trees have lost much of their pink and white vernal 



glory, and the leaves are out full and dense, that the Hawfinch 



seeks a site for its nest. It is not until the big horse chestnuts 



appear like spiked mountains of bloom, and the hawthorns are 



rich with fragrant flowers, or the beech woods are clothed with 



bright green summer garniture, that this shy bird begins to 



build her home. She must have i^lenty of shelter for it and 



for herself ere she dare venture to commence it. Curiously 



enough the Hawfinch shows little partiality for the evergreens 



as a nesting-place, although occasionally it makes use of a yew 



or a holly, and more frequently the thick clustering ivy 



growing round some forest giant, for its purpose. The nest is 



often built in a fork of the apple or pear tree, near the trunk 



on a beech or elm, or in a whitethorn or an oak. Sometimes 



it is only a few feet from the ground ; but frequently as much 



as fifty or sixty feet above it. Although the bird is by no 



