THE 



Pyrrhula vulgaris TEMM. 



PLATE XIX. 



Loxia pyrrhula, Linn Pyrrhula vulgaris, Temm. *c. 

 Bullfinch of British authors. 



THIS very beautiful bird is generally distributed 

 over our islands, though no where very numerous. 

 It is of retired habits, frequenting woods and 

 plantations, often where they are wild and of 

 considerable extent, and here their call-note 

 reaches the ear of the wanderer when their haunts 

 are intruded on, clear and distinct, yet melan- 

 choly in its tone and cadence. In spring and 

 winter, the shrubbery and gardens are frequented, 

 apparently on account of the food derived from 

 the fruit trees, where buds are eagerly sought after 

 and eaten, the bud being paired down or bruised 

 by the edges of the bill, forms itself the food, and is 

 not broken, as some suppose, in search after the 

 insects contained in it. The Bullfinch thus com- 

 mits often serious depredations on the crop of 

 the coming year; at other times the food consists 

 of the seeds of many plants, particularly those of 

 the order Syngenesia, as the thistle, ragweed, &c. 



The nest is constructed on the lower branches 

 of some evergreen tree, or among the underwood 

 of the cover. It is rather carelessly built, shallow, 



