THE BULLFINCH. 



This is a bird very well known. The female is much 

 unlike the male in plumage, except in the crown of 

 the head, which is black. It makes a nest of small 

 dry twigs, lined with fibrous roots, in the latter end of 

 April, or the beginning of May, most frequently in a 

 black or white-thorn bush, either in woods or hedges ; 

 preferring the thickest places for that purpose. 



This bird has no voice to charm us ; it emits only a 

 low and plaintive call to its companions in the hedge. 

 It covets no intercourse or familiarity with man, but 

 lives retired in some lonely thicket. As spring comes, 

 however, it will plunder our gardens, and while some of 

 our race make effort to obtain rarity for a banquet, these 

 birds seldom feed on two kinds at the same time. They 

 begin with the germs of the larger and most early goose- 

 berry, go on to the cherry-trees, proceed afterwards to 

 Orlean plums and green gages, and then resort to the 

 sloe-bushes in fields and hedges. 



These birds appear to have good powers of memory. 



