56 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR .LOG"- A>T NESTS. 



places out of the Parish funds for the heads of Sparrows, Tomtits, 

 &c., so has it been on a Lsse- scale with our present birds, and 

 1 cannot help thinking equally unjustly. No doubt the " Olph" 

 eominits sad a; parent havock on the blossom-buds; but 1 sus- 

 pect the blossom-buds damaged by him (as it seems) would 

 never have come to anytt ing if no Bullfinch had ever been 

 near them. There was a grub in each of ttu m, and that grub 

 would have destroyed the bud quite as effectually, if not 

 quite as summarily, as the bird which extracted it from what 

 was alike its hiding-place and scene of active ravage and con- 

 sumption. Unlike the Ring Dove and Missel Thrush, and a few 

 other birds, which are usually very wild and shy but at breeding 

 time lay aside their wildness and distrust, and come to the close 

 neighbourhood of human habitations to nest, the Bullfinch, in 

 spring, leaves our gardens and orchards and resorts to the woods 

 and wilds. The nest is made of twigs and roots and moss, 

 rather loosely constructed, and lined with wool and hair, and is 

 most commonly placed in a good thick bush oi considerable height 

 and size; sometimes on a fir or other tree. The hen-bird lays 

 four or five eggs of a pale greenish blue, streaked and spotted 

 with purple-red, chiefly at the larger end. Fig. \, plate IF. 



110. PINE GROSBEAK. (Pyrrhula enucleator\ 

 Pine Bullfinch, Common Hawfinch. Only a very rare visitor 

 in our islands. 



111. COMMON CROSSBILL (Loxia curvirottra). 

 This is a bird which deserves a little notice at our hands on 

 two or three g v-unds. In its plumage it varies more, according 

 to sex or age, than perhaps any other English bird in a state of 

 nature. It is indeed subject to almost startling dissimilarity. 

 The peculiar shape and action of the bill is also noteworthy, and 

 the strength of the muscles which move the mandibles may be 

 judged of by the powerful effect produced in starting the scales 

 of the strongest fir-cones. Again, it has been repeatedly met 

 with in this country in large numbers ; and not only so, 6ut at 

 such seasons as to render it almost positive that it must have 

 nested or be nesting here : nay even females which were ob- 

 tained showed, by the state of their plumage, that they must 

 have been so engaged : and yet until recently, no authentic 

 observation has been recorded of the actual occurrence of its nest 

 and eggs. It is now believed to breed in the very earliest spring 

 or indeed in winter, which may account for the obscurity hitherto 

 attending its nesting habits. The nest is made of twigs below, 

 with grassy rents upon such foundation, bound together witb 

 wool and lined with hair. The eggs seem to varv much ir. 

 colour, showing a sensible degree of resemblance to those of the 



