AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. 189 



83. GREENFINCH. 



CoccotJiraustes clitoris. 



This is one of our most abundant resident species, 

 and too well known to require much detail at my 

 hands. It is not a bird of any particular merit, 

 except as a destroyer of caterpillars, and it therefore 

 is worthy of protection in spite of the accusations 

 brought against it by many gardeners, with a certain 

 amount of reason, of destroying the buds of various 

 fruits, and a particular fancy, to which we can testify, 

 for young lettuces and other plants of that order. 

 The Greenfinch seems to especially aflfect evergreen 

 shrubs, both as nesting- and winter roosting-resorts, 

 and in our youthful nocturnal bird-catching ex- 

 cursions was the species which suffered most fre- 

 quently amongst the laurels, box, laurustinus, &c. 

 of the Northamptonshire gardens and shrubberies. 

 This species appears to pair early. We have often 

 found nests containing eggs in the first week in 

 April, and three, if not four, broods are often reared. 

 The male bird has a habit of floating in the air, 

 singing his best during the pairing-season, but his 

 best is, to our ears, a poor performance, and his 

 ordinary ditty tedious and monotonous to a degree. 

 I think that five is about the average complement of 

 eggs, but have several times met with six. In the 

 winter months the Greenfinch resorts to the hedges 

 and stubbles in company with other allied species, 

 and may often be found about the stackyards, but 

 generally returns to the favourite evergreens at 

 nightfall. This bird is common in most parts of 

 Southern Europe and in Algeria, in which last 



