OUR BIRD ALLIES. 137 
CHAP rah hx 
FINCHES. 
FINCHES—The Chaffinch—Its illicit deeds—Its compensating 
services—Food of the Chaffinch—Its beautiful nest—The 
Goldfinch and its value—Nest and eggs—The Greenfinch 
—Its food and character—The Linnet—Its occasional mis- 
chief—Diet and general character—Summer and winter 
plumage—Nest of the Linnet—The Bullfinch and its crimes 
-—A word in its favour—The Rev. F. O. Morris on the 
Bullfinch—Character and influence of the bird. 
Many of our British Finches are familiar to us all, 
as much on account of their song as of their varied 
and beautiful plumage. And, alas! more than one 
is generally considered as an outcast—an agricultural 
Pariah—to be driven from our fields, or even de- 
stroyed, by every means which lies in our power. 
To begin with the Chaffinch, one of the commonest 
and prettiest of the group, which is so universally 
distributed that it cannot but be familiar to all. Alike 
in garden, field, and wood is its brilliant plumage 
to be seen, while its nest, with the prettily marked 
eggs, is generally among the first trophies of the 
schoolboy, when once he has passed the era of 
blackbirds’ and thrushes’ nests—the A B C of egg- 
collecting—and attained to those which, although 
more carefully concealed, are yet to be discovered by 
