AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. 187 



obtaining which objects its powerful beak is most 

 admirably adapted. When not engaged in seeking 

 for food these birds generally select the highest 

 branches of some tall tree, whence their peculiar 

 sharp call-note may often be heard, and whence, on 

 the slightest alarm, they dart off with a very swift 

 undulating flight to some other safe look-out station. 

 The nests of this bird which have come under my 

 observation have all been placed at some height, 

 fifteen to thirty feet, from the ground, for the most 

 part in hawthorns or oaks ; but evergreens of various 

 kinds and apple-trees are often selected for this 

 purpose. The nest is large and loosely built of 

 pliable twigs and tree-lichens, with a lining of fine 

 roots, hair, and sometimes a little grass. The eggs 

 are of a pale greenish blue, spotted and streaked with 

 dark brown ; the usual complement is five, though 

 we have now and then met with six. It appears 

 from Yarrell and other ornithological works that the 

 Hawfinch has been and is extending its breeding- 

 range in this country generally, but that it is most 

 abundant in what are known as the home-counties, 

 Middlesex, Surrey, Kent, Essex, &c., in most of 

 which it has long been known to nest regularly, 

 whilst in certain parts of England it is still con- 

 sidered a rare bird at all times. Morton makes no 

 mention of the Hawfinch in his Natural History of 

 our county ; and it seems improbable that such a 

 peculiar and, to a certain extent, conspicuous bird 

 should have escaped his notice unless very un- 

 common. In my Harrow school-days we several 

 times met with nests of the Hawfinch in that 

 neighbourhood, and a few of these birds were 

 generally to be found in the gardens and pleasui'e- 



