THE BULLFINCH 1or 
twitter of the Common Linnet, but is less mellow. The nest is 
placed among heath, grass, or young corn, and invariably on the 
ground—in this respect differing from all other birds of the same 
family. It is constructed of dry grass, moss, and roots, and lined 
with various soft substances. The Mountain Linnet is generally called 
the Twite, a syllable which its simple note is thought to resemble. 
It is more shy as a rule than the Lesser Redpoll. 
fHE BULLFINCH 
PYRRHULA EUROPA 
Crown, throat, plumage round the bill, wings and tail lustrous purple-black ; 
upper part of the back bluish ash; cheeks, neck, breast and flanks red 
(in the female reddish brown) ; rump and abdomen pure white; a broad 
buff and grey band across the wings. Length six and a quarter inches. 
Eggs light greenish blue, speckled and streaked with light red and dark 
purple. 
‘ THE Bullfinch’, said Macgillivray, usually so accurate an observer, 
‘is not very common anywhere.’ From this last remark I infer 
that the author in question was never either proprietor or occupant 
of a fruit-garden in a wooded district, or he would have reported 
very differently of the frequency of the Bullfinch. During winter 
the food of these birds consists exclusively of berries of various 
kinds and seeds, especially of such weeds as thistle, rag-wort, duck- 
weed, plantains, etc., either picked up from the ground or gathered 
from herbs and shrubs. In spring, unfortunately for the gardener, 
their taste alters, and nothing will satisfy them but the blossom- 
buds of fruit-trees, especially those which are cultivated They 
attack, indeed, the buds of the sloe and hawthorn as well; but 
of these, being valueless, no one takes note. Still keeping together 
in small family parties, all uninvited, they pay most unwelcome 
visits to gooseberries, plums, and cherries, and, if undisturbed, 
continue to haunt the same trees until all hope of a crop is destroyed. 
Gooseberry-bushes are left denuded of flower-buds, which have 
been deliberately picked off and crushed between their strong 
mandibles, while the leaf-buds, situated principally at the extremi- 
ties of the branches, are neglected. Plum and cherry trees 
are treated in like manner, the ground being strewed with the 
bud-scales and rudiments of flowers. Some persons endeavour 
to deter them by whitewashing the trees, and are said to find this 
plan effectual. Others wind a straw rope round the gooseberry- 
bushes, so disguising their natural appearance. This plan I 
found perfectly successful one year, but the next it was entirely 
