56 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. 



on the branches of cherry-, plum-, apple-, and pear-trees, or on the twigs of the 

 gooseberry- and currant-bushes, and the ground is strewed with the cases of the 

 buds, marking ont its course. Singularly enough the bird confines its attentions 

 to the flower-buds, those producing leaves being passed by. This destructive habit 

 of the Bullfinch cannot be defended or excused ; but further research may prove 

 that the bird is, after all, a real benefactor to the tree from which it levies such 

 a costly tribute." 



It does not strike me as singular that the Bullfinch should prefer the short 

 stout buds to the thin pointed ones, but that is a detail. One thing must be borne 

 in mind, however, that, in the older trees, if the Bullfinches reduce the number 

 of fruit buds, they save the gardener the trouble of pruning away superfluous 

 fruit ; so that, as a matter of fact, the resulting crop may be just as good in the 

 end, though with less trouble to the grower. 



If you want a tree to die, there are few surer ways of killing it than by 

 boring a hole into the centre of the trunk and pouring in shot ; the gardener who 

 empties a charge of shot into the branches of his fruit-trees, can therefore hardly 

 expect them to be benefited thereby. If he were wise he would bait a cage-trap, 

 catch his Bullfinches and sell them at a shilling apiece for cage-birds : they would, 

 even then, die quite soon enough to satisfy any feelings of enmity which he might 

 nourish, for my experience of these birds in captivity is that it is quite exceptional 

 for them to become really tame even in large aviaries ; consequently, unless hand- 

 reared, they rarely live for more than eighteen months in captivity. 



When first turned loose in an aviary, a cock Bullfinch always creates a panic ; 

 his brilliant colouring seems to greatly alarm other Finches, so that his flight 

 through the midst of them produces much the same result as the rush of a bull 

 through a crowded street. Yet this powerful looking bird is really most inoffensive ; 

 if annoyed he only opens his mouth and makes grimaces, and if he does become 

 tame, he is not long in doing so : one which I had was tempted to take sunflower- 

 seeds from my fingers three weeks after its capture : a Canary, with which I paired 

 it, was far less afraid of it than our indigenous Finches. 



