88 THE GOLDFINCH 
some laborious occupation. Its short tail and wings unfit it for 
long aerial voyages, and its thick neck and ponderous bill denote the 
presence of great muscular power, and such, indeed, it both has 
and requires. It is not a common bird, and was until within the 
last few years considered to be migratory; but so many instances 
have occurred in whichjts nest has been found, that no doubt is now 
entertained of its being a constant resident. In Berkshire I have 
several times seen two or three together busily occupied in picking 
up the seeds which had fallen from the cones of a spruce fir. On 
one occasion a nest was brought to me by a man who had found it 
built on some twigs which grew from the trunk of a tall oak-tree ; 
it was built of the tangled white lichens which grow on trees, on a 
foundation of a few roots, and contained five eggs. I afterwards 
discovered another nest of exactly similar structure, which I be- 
lieved must have been built by the same bird, but it was empty. 
In Hertfordshire a single Hawfinch visited my garden one winter 
for several days in succession, and diligently picked up and cracked 
the stones of laurel cherries, from which Blackbirds had, a few 
months before, as busily stripped the pulp. Inthe cherry orchards 
in the neighbourhood they are not uncommon, where, even if not 
seen, their visits are detected by the ground being strewed with 
halves of cherry-stones, which these birds split with their powerful 
beaks as cleverly as a workman with the chisel. Their note I 
have never heard, but the proprietor of the orchards assured me that 
he had often detected their presence by the low twittering noise which 
they made, a description the truth of which a writer quoted by 
Yarrell confirms. I have never seen a nest in Hertfordshire, but 
on several occasions have observed their eggs among the collections 
made by the country boys in the neighbourhood. Besides cherry- 
stones, Hawfinches feed on hazelnuts, hornbeam seeds, the kernels 
of the fruit of the hawthorn, seeds of various kinds, and, when they 
can get them, green peas, for the sake of which they often venture 
into gardens. They usually build their nests in trees at an 
elevation varying from twenty-five to thirty feet, and the nest is 
composed of dead twigs, intermixed with pieces of grey lichen ; 
this last material varying much in quantity in different nests, but 
being never absent. 
THE GOLDFINCH 
CARDUELIS ELEGANS 
Back of the head, nape, and feathers round the base of the bill black; fore- 
head and throat blood-red ; cheeks, forepart of the neck and lower parts 
white ; back and scapulars dark brown; wings variegated with black, 
white and yellow; tail black, tipped with white. Length five inches. 
Eggs bluish white, speckled with pale purple and brown. 
Tuis little bird, as sprightly in its habits as it is brilliant in its colour- 
