98 OUR RARER BIRDS 



love to perch in conspicuous positions when engaged in song ; 

 but the Hawfinch twitters from the dense recesses of the foliage 

 and keeps well out of sight amongst the trees. 



The food of the Hawfinch varies a good deal, according to 

 the season of the year. Thus in spring and summer he lives 

 almost exclusively on insects and fruit. He visits the garden 

 for peas and currants, and frequents the orchard in cherry 

 time, always preferring the hard stone of that fruit to its rich 

 luscious covering. In autumn various berries and nuts are 

 eaten. He is passionately fond of beech-mast and the seeds 

 of the hornbeam ; whilst in winter he often makes a meal 

 on the hawthorn berries. Yew berries are eaten in great 

 quantities ; and in early summer caterpillars are devoured, 

 this latter food being the principal sustenance of the young 

 birds. 



The Hawfinch may pair in spring, but not a twig is crossed 

 in furtherance of a nest until the first faint signs of summer 

 are spreading over the fields and woods. It is not until the 

 orchard trees have lost much of their pink and white vernal 

 glory, and the leaves are out full and dense, that the Hawfinch 

 seeks a site for its nest. It is not until the big horse chestnuts 

 appear like spiked mountains of bloom, and the hawthorns are 

 rich with fragrant flowers, or the beech woods are clothed with 

 bright green summer garniture, that this shy bird begins to 

 build her home. She must have plenty of shelter for it and 

 for herself ere she dare venture to commence it. Curiously 

 enough the Hawfinch shows little partiality for the evergreens 

 as a nesting-place, although occasionally it makes use of a yew 

 or a holly, and more frequently the thick clustering ivy 

 growing round some forest giant, for its purpose. The nest is 

 often built in a fork of the apple or pear tree, near the trunk 

 on a beech or elm, or in a whitethorn or an oak. Sometimes 

 it is only a few feet from the ground ; but frequently as much 

 as fifty or sixty feet above it. Although the bird is by no 



