HAWFINCH. 561 



from fifteen or twenty to one hundred, or even to two 

 hundred individuals. In this manner they remain through 

 the winter, feeding on the hornbeam seeds which have 

 fallen to the ground, the newly-cracked shells of which 

 are to be seen in abundance at their haunts; the birds 

 only separate at the approach of the breeding season. I 

 believe the male has no song worth notice ; in warm days 

 in March I have heard them, when a number have been 

 sitting together on a tree, uttering a few notes in a soft 

 tone, bearing some resemblance to those of the Bullfinch." 



A female in the possession of Mr. Bartlett sung the notes 

 of the Linnet ; but being afterwards hung out of doors, it 

 learned to imitate the song of a Blackbird, though but 

 indifferently ; on the occurrence of the autumn moult she 

 discontinued her imitations of the Blackbird's song, and 

 seemed afterwards to have forgotten it. 



Mr. Doubleday remarks, " that although so common in 

 his neighbourhood, the Hawfinch is but little known, which 

 is to be attributed to its shy and retired habits." These 

 birds generally perch on the highest branches of a tree, or 

 upon a dead or naked bough, from whence they keep so 

 good a look-out that it is very difficult to get near them. 



I have known a Hawfinch to be shot as near London as 

 Netting Hill, and two others were caught in that neigh- 

 bourhood by a bat-fowling net. Mr. Jesse, in his instruc- 

 tive Gleanings, says that this bird breeds about Roehampton, 

 and refers to one nest that was found in the grounds of 

 Lord Clifden, at the extremity of a branch of a horse- 

 chestnut tree near the lodge, and it has been known to 

 build in other localities in Surrey but a few miles from 

 London. Mr. H. L. Meyer, the author of Coloured Il- 

 lustrations of British Birds, whilst publishing that work, 

 gave me a specimen which was shot near Esher. In Kent 

 this species is observed to exist in considerable numbers at 



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