HAWFINCH. 187 



The type of this sub-family — 



The Hawfinch {Coccothraiistes vuli^aris), from its general conformation 

 is evidently adapted to some laborious occupation. Its short tail and wings 

 untit it for long aiirial voyages, and its thick neck and ponderous bill denote 

 great muscular power. Hawfinches may be seen in winter diligently picking 

 up and cracking the stones of laurel cherries, from which blackbirds had, a 

 few months before, stripped the pulp. They are not uncommon in cherry or- 

 chards, where their visits may be detected by the ground being covered with 

 halves of cherry-stones, which these birds split with their powerful beaks as 



Fig. 99.— The Hawfinxh {Coccothranstes vulgaris) 



cleverly as a workman could divide them with his chisel; they likewise feed 

 on hazel nuts, the kernels of the fruit of the hawthorn, seeds of various kinds, 

 and, when they can get them, green peas. 



The nest is built sometimes in a bush, and sometimes among the branches 

 of a tree : it is composed of twigs, intermixed with a larger or smaller quantity 

 of fragments of grey lichen. The latter is never wanting, and sometimes con- 

 stitutes the greater part of the nest. The materials are loosely put together, 

 and the cavity is lined with fine roots and hair ; the eggs are from four to six 

 in number, of a pale olive colour, spotted with brown and streaked with grey. 



A very remarkable group {Gcospiza) is peculiar to the Gallapagos Archi- 

 pelago. "They frequent," says Mr. Darwin, "the rocky and extremely arid 

 parts of the land sparingly covered with almost naked bushes near the coasts, 

 for here they find, by scratching in the cindery soil with their powerful beaks 

 and claws, the seeds of grasses and other plants which rapidly spring up during 



