158 OUR IRISH SONG BIRDS. 



taught to whistle, and sometimes even to repeat a short 

 sentence ; the latter feat is, however, somewhat rare. 



The Bullfinch is a very conspicuous bird on the wing; 

 the white upper tail-coverts, which remind us somewhat 

 of the Wheatear, enable us to identify him at once. The 

 fine velvet-black on the head, and the light red on the 

 breast, render him one of our handsomest native birds. 



The Bullfinch does, perhaps, more injury to the garden 

 than any other of our Irish Song Birds ; his partiality 

 for the buds of cherries and plums is very great ; at the 

 same time, it must be remembered that this is only for 

 a short time in the year, as the young birds are fed 

 almost entirely upon insects, and, in autumn and winter, 

 berries of various kinds are their chief food. Mr. 

 Harting, in pleading for the Bullfinch, says : " Those 

 who wish for a good show of fruit must drive away the 

 Bullfinch from the buds ; not, as some thoughtless gar- 

 deners do, with a charge of shot, which strips off more 

 buds in a second than a Bullfinch could pick off in an 

 hour, but by means of scarecrows and nets and frequent 

 visits to the trees. In this way you may save your fruit 

 from the destroyer, and still hear his pleasing song." 



Instances of what is called melanism frequently 

 occur in the Bullfinch when in confinement ; birds fed 

 on hemp-seed are especially liable to become black. 

 Mr. Thompson mentions an amusing instance of this in 

 his Natural History of Ireland. He says : " Many years 

 ago, at Edenderry, near Belfast, where a pair of Bull- 

 finches had been for some time kept, the male died, and 

 the female, whose grief for his loss was very evident, 

 soon afterwards moulted, and assumed a full garb of 

 black. Such, being considered equivalent to the widow's 



