270 THE FINCHES. CHAP. xin. 



I have been to repose by the evening hymn of the 

 lark, and aroused by their early lays at the first blink 

 of morn. 



"The Goldfinch is also a good singing bird. If 

 any one wishes to have a cage-bird to cheer him with 

 its song, let him get a male hybrid between this 

 species and the canary, and I am sure he will not be 

 disappointed. . . . The Goldfinch's nest is one of 

 nature's masterpieces. What a beautiful piece of 

 workmanship ! how exquisitely woven together ! how 

 light, compact, soft, and warm in its internal lining ! 

 and how complete! What hand could imitate the 

 woolly, feathery, mossy, cup-formed, half-ball-like 

 structure ? How vain the attempt ! 



" The Bullfinch, though much admired as a cage- 

 bird, cannot be said to be much of a songster. It is 

 kept more for its beauty than its music, though it is 

 sometimes able to 'pipe' a very pretty tune. Now, 

 with respect to its food. Great numbers of bullfinches 

 are annually destroyed by our gardeners and nursery- 

 men because they are supposed to be destructive. 

 Now, it is a fact well known to ornithologists that, 

 although the sparrow, greenfinch, chaffinch, wren, 

 bullfinch, and other birds, do not themselves actually 

 live on insects, yet these form the chief food for their 

 young. Such being the case, what an enormous and 

 countless number of noxious and destructive creatures 

 must they destroy ! But we poor short-sighted mortals 

 do not know this. We are all in the dark as regards 



