BULLFINCH. 



NOPE. POPE. ALP. HOOP. COMMON BULLFINCH. 



PLATE XCI. 



Loxia pyrrJiula, PENNANT. MONTAGU. 



Pyrt'ltula vulgarls, FLEMING. SELBY. 



TOWARDS the end of April the birds pair, and nidification is commenced 

 in the beginning of May, and is finished by the end of that month, 

 or the beginning of June. 



The nest is formed of small twigs, and is lined with small roots, the 

 whole being not firmly compacted: in some instances moss is added. 

 It is generally placed either in a tree, such as a fir, or in the middle 

 of a bush, frequently a hawthorn, at a height of four or five feet from 

 the ground. It is often built in a shrubbery, even near a house, and 

 occasionally, though but seldom, in a garden. 



The eggs, four or five in number, are pale blue, speckled and streaked 

 with purple grey, and dark purple. They are hatched towards the end 

 of May, after an incubation of fifteen days. The male takes his turn 

 in sitting with the female. The latter sits very closely, though she is 

 in general easily frightened away. The male is less so, but it is said 

 that if he be disturbed the nest is almost always deserted, which is 

 not the case when the female is alarmed. William Henry Rudston Reed, 

 Esq., of Hayton and York, has recorded in the 'Naturalist/ old series, 

 that, when resident at Frickley Hall, near Doncaster, a hen bird which 

 built in a laurel near the house suffered herself to be touched while 

 sitting on her young ones, and would feed from the hand without the 

 least fear. The birds are supposed to pair for life; the members of 

 the family keep together until the spring. 



