6o The Scarlet Rose-Finch 



boring a hole into tlie centre of the trunk and pouring in shot ; the gardener 

 who empties a charge of shot into the branches of his fruit-trees, can, therefore, 

 hardly expect them to be benefited thereb\'. If he were wise he would bait a 

 cage-trap, catch his Bullfinches and sell them at a shilling apiece for cage-birds : 

 the}' would, even then, die quite soon enough to satisfy any feelings of enmity 

 which he might nourish, for my experience of these birds in captivity is — that it 

 is quite exceptional for them to become really tame even in large aviaries ; 

 consequently, unless hand-reared, they rarely live for more than eighteen months 

 in captivity. 



When first turned loose in an aviary, a cock Bullfinch always creates a panic; 

 his brilliant colouring seems to greatly alarm other Finches, so that his flight 

 through the midst of them produces much the same result as the rush of a bull 

 through a crowded street. Yet this powerful looking bird is really most inoffensive ; 

 if annoyed he only opens his mouth aud makes grimaces, and if he does become 

 tame, he is not long in doing so: one which I had was tempted to take sunflower- 

 seeds from my fingers three weeks after its capture : a Canary, with which I 

 paired it, was far less afraid of it than our indigenous Finches were. 



Family -^FRINGIL L ID. F. Subfamily— FR I XG I L L INAl. 



The Scarlet Rose-Finch. 



Carpodacus erythrinm, PalL. 



A FULL account of this species will be found in my book " Foreign Finches 

 in Captivity." I do not admit its claim to be called British, for although 

 five examples have been obtained in England, one at Brighton, in 1869, 

 and the other at Hampstead in the following year, it is quite possible that both 



