430 THE COMMON BULLFINCH. 



One of my notes says: — "April 3rd, 1878. Having walked 

 from St Andrews to Gilston, by Largoward, on my way home 

 by the Peat Inn, Drumcarrow, and Denhead, I saw a pair of 

 bullfinches, male and female, feeding on the small green leaf- 

 buds of a hawthorn hedge at Mountmelville, 3J miles from St 

 Andrews. They were not the least alarmed, although I stood 

 within four yards of them. It was a lovely day, but as there 

 had been a heavy snowstorm two days before, the snow lay five 

 inches deep ; yet they were fearlessly and cheerfully stealing 

 the first green mantle of spring. Though the snow was deep 

 the sky was clear, and as so many of my little feathered friends 

 were flitting on the hedges — the lark singing overhead and the 

 blackbird whistling in the copse — I was not tired, although I 

 had walked IS miles, nor ever feel so when alone with teeming 

 Nature. I felt a relief to be away from the selfish insincerity 

 of man ; and as I stood in the middle of that snow-paved road, 

 with my old Glengarry bonnet in my hand, watching the bull- 

 finches, I could not help breathing a silent but sincere prayer to 

 the Infinite Father of all — the Source and Soul of life — 

 ' Which ' we call God — thankful I was able to walk so far with 

 a free and buoyant spirit, trusting to be forgiven for all my 

 transgressions, as no doubt these little bullfinches would be for 

 breaking the first green leaf-buds of that April thorn." I have 

 a male stuffed which was shot on a spruce fir at the Lawmill on 

 April 4th, 1856, and a female shot at Stravithie, March 3rd,, 

 1858. I have seen them in nearly all the woods about St 

 Andrews, but sparingly. Its usual note is a plaintive whistle, 

 and, when feeding, a low twitter, like the crossbill. Its song is 

 so low and sweet that casual observers say it has none, but 

 merely imitates the songs of other birds, or whistles various 

 tunes, which it readily does in cages. It sometimes loses its 

 lovely plumage, and becomes nearly black, by feeding too much 

 on hemp seed — as the rose tint of the linnet loses itself from 

 the same cause. It is one of our most beautiful birds. The 

 crown of the head, throat, wings, and tail are glossy black, 

 tinged with violet-purple ; nape of the neck and back, bluish 

 grey ; cheeks, neck, breast, belly, and sides, light red, between 

 lake and vermilion ; rump and under-tail coverts, white — the 

 whole plumage soft and downy ; iris, brown. The length is 6 

 inches, and 9J in extent of wings. The female less, similarly 

 marked, but duller, the grey being tinged with brown, the 

 white on the rump less, and the red less bright. The next 

 allied birds are the Starlings. 



