174 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 
a grain- and seed-eating bird, it of course does both 
good and harm to the gardener and the farmer, and 
we must therefore try to find out in which it exceeds. 
As it is one of M. Prevost’s birds I will begin with 
his somewhat long and varied list of food :—‘ Janu- 
ary, seeds, berries and kernels of fruits: February, 
the same and corn; March, the same and insects; 
April, moths, flies and insects of various kinds; May, 
cockchaffers, grubs and eggs of insects: June, the 
same and wild fruits; July, the same and grubs of 
beetles: August, moths and butterflies; September, 
eges of insects, worms and seeds; October, wood- 
boring beetles, seeds and insects ; November, seeds ; 
December, seeds and buds.” In this list the good 
done seems to more than counterbalance the harm, 
but this list scarcely completes the case either for or 
against the Chaffinch. Throughout the autumn and 
winter it flocks in the stubble-fields, gleaning the 
corn which is left about: it also frequents rick-yards 
and ricks made in the fields, where, like the Bunting, 
it pulls out what corn it can, thereby doing consider- 
able damage to badly-built ricks; but, as with those 
birds, the greatest damage it does to the farmer is in 
eating the corn round the hedges before it is fit to 
cut, and in picking up the newly-sown corn and 
other seeds, such as clover, vetches, &c., before they 
come up: beyond this I do not know that it can be 
accused of doing any damage to the farmer. While 
on the subject of the food of the Chaffinch, I will 
