174 THE GREENFINCH 



obnoxious to ground insects and parasitic fungi. As the quan- 

 tity of tar water is excessive for most requirements, a proportionate 

 quantity may be prepared, even as little as I oz. gas-tar to a pint 

 of water, boiling for half an hour or until readily mixing with water 

 and then diluting to 6J gallons. Gas-tar water is a good preventive 

 of insect eggs' deposition, particularly those of sawflies, and dipter- 

 ous pests, and also useful as an insecticide and fungicide. 



GREENFINCH. In all but the breeding season the green linnet 

 is present in flocks throughout Britain, particularly in cultivated 

 and wooded districts. They frequent gardens much less than the 

 chaffinch, but, like them, are to be found around the corn-stacks' and 

 farm-buildings in winter. The green linnet eats but few insects, 

 far less than the chaffinch, and these mostly in rearing the young, 

 yet this is varied with soft seeds or herbage. Its value is mainly 

 dependent upon the weed seeds it eats, but this advantage is dis- 

 counted by a large quantity of grain consumed in cornfields and 

 much damage sometimes inflicted on sprouting crops of the Orders 

 Cruciferae, Compositae, Leguminosae, it being particularly fond of 

 milled sanfoin seed. In gardens, occasional onslaughts are made 

 on fruit buds and blossoms by greenfinches, but this is very indiffer- 

 ently authenticated, and according to our experience not satis- 

 factorily determined, for it does not follow that because green- 

 finches are seen about in flocks and even on bushes or trees more or 

 less denuded of buds, they are the culprits. But their services are 

 so restricted in gardens and fruit plantations to command pro- 

 tection, though said to feed the young with small winter moth larvae 

 and various injurious tortrices. It is also said to be terribly de- 

 structive in hop grounds, coming in large flocks and pulling hop 

 flowers to pieces and littering the ground with flower-bracts. 



In winter greenfinches roost in evergreen bushes in pleasure 

 grounds, in ivy-clad low trees in hedgerows, and other sheltered 

 places in woods, thickets being favourite hostelries for finches. In 

 these lurking-places some of the greenfinches may be captured by 

 means of the Sparrow Batting Net, in which the net is mounted on 

 bamboo canes 17 ft. long, bent arch shape and designed to fold 

 in the middle, working the bushes or ivy at night, also hayricks and 

 corn-stacks. In winter a train of corn screenings may be placed 

 on the ground in severe weather, the snow being cleared, and when 

 the birds take the bait freely, either wait in ambush and pour into 

 a flock a charge of small shot when feeding and another on the wing., 

 or place a string along the track with a number of horsehair nooses. 

 The nests may be taken in breeding time, but the difficulty is to 

 reach them on account of the restrictions of the game-preserver, 

 and it is also difficult to pour in a volley of shot amongst a flock 

 rising from newly-seeded land, or the harvest field, so wary are the 

 birds. 



COMMON LINNET. Like the greenfinch, the brown linnet devours 



