THE GREENFINCH. 155 



for the poultry. Shortly after a stack has been thrashed, in 

 snowy weather, the place where it stood is often seen quite 

 covered with Greenfinches, all eagerly searching for food. 

 A favourite resort for the great flocks of these birds which 

 frequent our farm-steadings in winter is the sloping thatch 

 on the top of some of the ricks, and this has been pleasingly 

 referred to by Grahame in the following lines : — 



Pleasant the path 

 By sunny garden wall, when all the fields 

 Are chill and comfortless ; or barnyard snug, 

 Where flocking birds, of various plume, and chirp 

 Discordant, cluster on the leaning stack. 



As spring advances, the Greenfinch betakes itself to our 

 plantations and hedges, where it builds its nest, composed 

 of fibrous roots, moss, and wool, lined with horse-hair and 

 feathers. The eggs, which are generally five or six in num- 

 ber, are white, spotted and blotched, chiefly at the larger 

 end, with dark reddish brown. 



The food consists of grain, seeds,^ and insects. 



1 Mr. Hardy, writing on the effects of the winter of 1878-79, mentions that 

 during the severe weather then experienced Greenfinches attacked the heads of 

 burdocks growing in neglected places, and dismembered them for food.— Hist. 

 Ber. Nat. Cluh, vol. ix. p. 124. 





^m:V 





