THE HAWFINCH 43 



acquired until the second year. The first year's birds are coloured 

 brown or brownish-grey. The females are less brilliantly coloured 

 than the males. The nest is loosely constructed of sticks and 

 straws, and generally made in a hole of a wall, or in a hollow tree. 

 The eggs are pale blue, and five in number. Both parents tend 

 the young, and the former and latter set up such an outcry when 

 food is taken to the young that it may be heard a long way off. 



Starlings are gregarious, common everywhere in large flocks, 

 except in the breeding season, when they frequent buildings and 

 especially churches, and are, to the district, guardians of lawns and 

 meadows. The food consists of insects cockchafers, wireworms, 

 leather- jackets, woodlice, slugs (particularly their eggs), and worms, 

 all the year round preying upon insects and their larvae. The 

 cherry is a favourite fruit of starlings, and, unless kept away, they 

 will destroy the crop. 



The GROSBEAK or HAWFINCH (Coccothraustes vulgaris), included 

 in the family Fringillidae or Finches, is noted for its conical and 

 strong beak, which is fitted for the destruction of hard kernels. It 

 is not a very rare bird, but on account of its shyness very seldom seen, 

 venturing only from thick woods in quest of food. The nest is 

 very shallow, and slightly put together, being little superior to 

 that of the wood-pigeon. The eggs are from four to six in number, 

 of a greenish-white, covered with dark marks and spots. The 

 length of the hawfinch is 7 in. and very ornamental in plumage. 

 Its food consists chiefly of seeds and berries, such as those of horn- 

 beam, holly, bird cherry, laurel, and hawthorn, while at times 

 it is very destructive to peas in gardens. 



The CHAFFINCH (Fringilla ccelebs), Fig. 34, a member, as the 

 name implies, of the family Fringillidae or Finches, is 6 or 7 in. 

 in length in the male, the female rather smaller and altogether 

 duller and less attractive in colouring than the male. The male 

 is very handsome, bill bluish, black at tip, forehead black, sides of 

 head dull pink, crown, nape and sides of neck bluish lead-colour, 

 chin, throat and breast on its upper part dull pink, back chestnut- 

 brown with greyish-yellow margins to the feathers, the greater 

 wing coverts black at the base, broadly tipped with yellowish- 

 white, forming a conspicuous bar, some of lesser wing coverts 

 white, others tipped with white, forming another bar ; first three 

 quills black with white on their margins, the rest with their bases 

 and part of their inner webs white, and with pale yellow margins 

 on half the outer webs, tail slightly forked, two middle feathers 

 lead colour, next ones black, and the outside one on each side with 

 whole or part of the outer web white. The nest is formed in various 

 situations : very often in a fruit tree in the orchard or garden, some- 

 times in a hedge, and even in a low bush, such as furze on a common. 

 The very beautiful nest is usually covered outside with tree-moss 

 and lichen, and inside lined with feathers, wool or hair, stalks 



