74 BRITISH BIRDS 



orchards that is laid to the account of the Bullfinch and 

 the Sparrow, nor has it the redeeming traits that distinguish 

 those birds, which suffer for misdoings not their own; it 

 never touches an insect, and prefers the seeds of cultivation 

 to those that are produced in a state of nature. 



The nest of the Greenfinch is very neatly and compactly 

 built of grass and roots, and is usually well concealed in 

 a thick growth of leaves: as a rule there are two, but 

 sometimes three, broods of four or five each in the season. 

 The eggs, as we have said, bear a general resemblance to 

 those of the Canary, but they are a little larger than those 

 of the latter, which, given comparative freedom in a garden 

 aviary, will build a nest very closely resembling that of 

 the Greenfinch. 



The latter bird is not at all backward about nesting in 

 confinement, and will do so in an inverted birch-broom as 

 freely as it will in its native haunts. The young are fed 

 entirely on green food for the first three weeks of their 

 existence, and will scarcely be reared without a sufficient 

 supply of the same, which is, of course, first swallowed 

 by the parents, macerated for a time in the crop, and 

 then regurgitated for the benefit of their offspring, as can 

 readily be verified by watching a pair of tame Greenfinches 

 in an aviary. 



In winter these birds are gregarious, and the flocks, 

 often consisting of a hundred or more individuals, keep 

 so closely together, that, with a little patience, they may 

 all be trapped; the birds, with inconceivable fatuity, return- 

 ing again and again to the nets, attracted no doubt by 

 the cries of their imprisoned companions. 



The Greenfinch is an excellent subject for the budding 

 aviarist to try his 'prentice hand on, for it is, as we have 

 said, sufficiently handsome, and also very hardy and 

 accommodating. 



The best food for it, in confinement, is hemp and canary 

 seed, to which such green food should be added as 

 happens to be in season, and an abundance of suitable 

 grit : without the assistance of the last-named the bird is 

 apt to fall into a decline, the only disease to which the 

 captive Green Linnet would appear to be liable. 



