336 



THE HAWFINCH. 



The Pine Grosbeak 



{Toxia enudeator). 



England possesses a good example of this group in the well-known 

 Hawfinch or Grosbeak. 



This bird was once thought to be exceedingly scarce, but is now known 

 to be anything but uncoinraon, although it is rarely seen, owing to its 

 very shy and retiring habits, which lead it to 

 eschew the vicinity of man and to bury itself 

 in the recesses of forests. So extremely wary 

 is the Hawfinch that to approach within gun- 

 shot is a very difficult matter, and can seldom 

 be accomplished without the assistance of a 

 decoy-bird or by imitating the call-note, which 

 _ , , . - bears some resemblance to that of a robin. It 



t^jJ^ " ^^^^^ feeds chiefly on the various wild berries, not 

 ^m rejecting even the hard stones of plums and 



^BM the laurel-berries. In the spring it is apt to 



wWBj make inroads in the early dawn upon the cul- 



^3 tivated grounds, and has an especial liking for 



peas, among which it often works dire havoc. 

 The nest of the Hawfinch is not remarkable 

 for either elegance or peculiarity of form. It is very simply built of 

 slender twigs, bits of dried creepers, gray lichens, roots, and hairs, and 

 is so carelessly put together that it can hardly be moved entire. The 

 eggs are from four to six in number, and their color is very pale olive- 

 green, streaked with gray and spotted with black dots. The birds pair 

 in the middle of April, begin to build their nests about the end of that 



month, and the young are 

 hatched about the third' 

 week in May. 



The true Finches are 

 known by their rather 

 short and conical beak, 

 their long and pointed 

 wings, and the absence 

 of nostrils in the beak. 

 England possesses many 

 examples of these birds. 

 The Chaffinch is one 

 of our commonest field- 

 birds, being spread over 

 the whole of England in 

 very great numbers. 

 The specific title of 

 ^s given to the Chaffinch, signifies "a bachelor," and 

 refers to the annual separation of the sexes, which takes place in the 



1. Seaside Finch, 

 nah Finch. 



C(£lcb.<, which 



Finches. 



2. Sharp-tailed Finch. 



3. Savan- 



