192 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 
The food of the Hawfinch consists principally of 
the kernels of the stones of various sorts of fruit, 
both wild and cultivated, amongst which may be 
enumerated the stones of damsons, plums, sloes and 
laurel-berries. According to Mr. Doubleday it 
commits considerable depredations in the garden, 
especially amongst young peas: * it is not, however, 
sufficiently common in this county at any time— 
certainly not in green-pea time—to cause much 
uneasiness in the minds of our gardeners. 
In confinement this bird grows very tame, al- 
though if caught after it has come to maturity it is 
occasionally, like some other birds, rather sulky 
at first: this, however, is easily got over, and, as it 
will eat any sort of grain or seed, it is very easily 
kept. 
The nest is placed in various positions, in trees 
or shrubs, amongst which may be mentioned the 
whitethorn, the oak, the holly, the fir and the apple- 
tree: it seems to be rather a rough structure of 
twigs, roots and moss lined with fine roots: in one 
instance, mentioned by Yarrell, the whole of the 
lining was of gardener’s bass. 
The Hawfinch is a fine handsome bird, consider- 
ably larger than the last-mentioned species. ‘The 
* See paper, in the ‘Magazine of Zoology,’ by Mr. 
Henry Doubleday, who also adds that its favourite food is 
the seed of the hornbeam. 
