62



Mr. 0. J. Stone,



Taking the birds in rough groups, and the commoner ones

first, we have the sparrows and ordinary finches. Greenfinches are

regular inhabitants, though more often heard than seen, and we have

seldom found their nest. This by no means applies to the chaf¬

finches, which build fairly freely in the garden, and are heard and

seen in large numbers. I remember once letting a hen escape, when

from every direction cock birds arrived, till within a few minutes

there must have been more than a dozen round the hen in a small

fruit-tree.


The most interesting nest of this bird which I have found

occurred in the ivy, on a low fence, just near the gardener’s shed.

We generally come across several in the fruit or May-trees, and one

pair nearly always nests somewhere near the house and becomes

tame when feeding young. The parents then come to beg at the

tea-table in the garden.


The contrast between the manners of the chaffinches and

sparrows is noticeable. The former come confidently, and with a

very superior hop ; the latter approach suspiciously and in a common

way, and, after much beating about the bush, fly off triumphantly

with a crumb, evidently pleased at having outwitted us. It always

reminds me of a boy stealing apples from a garden to which he has

been invited to pick the fruit. It seems to me very curious that

the rather dainty chaffinches should condescend to crumbs, while

the greenfinches, which, in an aviary at any rate, are such general

feeders, never beg and are, in fact, never seen near the ground at all.


Occasionally we see bullfinches, and once I caught a nice

young cock, but this year is the first in which I remember seeing a

pair together. They were sitting together on the bean-sticks.


Yellow-hammers have only been noticed once, when we

caught two hens in a cage-trap near the aviary. Coming now to

the commoner soft-bills we find- a larger assortment. I have always

looked upon thrushes and blackbirds as being a part of the garden,

so that I was quite surprised when a friend of mine remarked on the

number of blackbirds seen at one and the same time on the lawn.


The Starlings, also, work the garden systematically, in small

flocks, and used, I am afraid, to form the readiest game for catapult

and airgun.



