124 THE FINCHES 



are no longer operative, and the home has lost its charm. Presumably 

 these particulars are not confined to the two species to which the 

 above observations relate, but, in a general manner, may be applied 

 to the whole family. 



It used to be thought that not only were the greenfinch, bullfinch, 

 twite, linnet, redpolls, etc., strict vegetarians in their own persons, 

 but that they fed their young exclusively on a similar diet. The 

 accumulation of evidence, however, has shown both these supposi- 

 tions to have been unfounded in several instances, and it is probable 

 that the list of exceptions will grow till all are included. I, at any 

 rate, find it hard to believe that a British finch of any species will 

 not eat insects occasionally, when time shall serve, as has been 

 proved in the case of one (to be similarly mentioned) long thought 

 pre-eminently vegetarian. However this may be, both the bullfinch 

 and greenfinch are now known to give their young (presumably) 

 raw insects, as well as prepared seeds, nor is it certain, in the case of 

 the latter, that the seeds are swallowed or even macerated (by which 

 I understand bruised or crushed with the mandibles), which is what 

 Harting says that they are. At any rate, such maceration cannot be 

 looked upon as invariable, since it now appears (as if it were some- 

 thing quite new) that Blake Knox stated in the Zoologist, so long 

 ago as 1866 (painful ideas of burial this gives to the modern contri- 

 butor), that the seeds are merely shelled, and then given entire. He 

 goes on to say that the digestion of the young greenfinches is, in 

 consequence, slow, and that their throats, unlike those of young- 

 chaffinches, are always well packed, " the parents feeding them only 

 at long intervals, very thoroughly, so that they are not often seen at 

 the nest." x 



These interesting observations, which ought to have been at once 

 taken up, as it were, and made part of our common ornithological 

 knowledge, have been apparently forgotten for the last forty years or 



1 This agrees, in an interesting manner, with Miss Bruce's observations on the goldfinch. 

 See ante, p. 122. 



