1 8 Birds that come to our 



or tangles of herbage. In appearance he is much of 

 a muchness with the chifrchaff, delicately made. 



The ubiquitous greenfinch, to my mind a plebeian 

 bird, with his stout bill and his sparrow-like form, 

 builds here, there, and everywhere, generally on a 

 level with one's head, or a foot or two above it. 



Young greenfinches are very clamorous and rowdy. 

 But the plumage of the adult male is certainly hand- 

 some, the bright yellow in the wings and tail showing 

 up well against the general dull green of the body. 



For real beauty amongst the finches, nothing beats 

 our old and intimate friend the bullfinch, beloved as a 

 cage-bird, but detested by gardeners. 



I remember how my grandmother, on entering 

 the potting shed of the kitchen-garden, beheld to 

 her chagrin a row of slaughtered " bullies " lying on a 

 shelf, and how, on remonstrating with the head-gardener 

 — an old character from Norfolk — she was placed on 

 the horns of a dilemma by being asked, " Which dew 

 your ladyship want, them there birds or gooseberries ? 

 for yeou can't have both on 'em, that's sartin sure." 



After all, gooseberries are not a joy for ever ; indeed 

 my recollections of boyish raids amongst their bushes, 

 with the consequences thereof, are vivid of anything 

 but joy ; and yet what fun it was, especially enhanced 

 by the fact that the old gardener looked upon one as 

 an enemy to his fruit, and as great a thief, as he did 

 upon the bullfinches. It was a high-walled garden, 

 and one day when the old jailor seemed less vigilant 

 than usual, so that we boys had managed to have our 

 fill, we found to our consternation that all the doors 



