THE BULLFINCH 87 



The first time I saw the female bullfinch bring 

 food for the family was on May 2gth, when I 

 began my watch at 11.10. My notes, made while 

 I waited, run as follows : " Very hot, the air 

 full of drowsily humming flies, a few birds singing, 

 a hen cuckoo bubbling and her mate cuckooing. 

 An owl rouses himself to hoot vigorously, at which 

 a blackbird or two break into hysterical shrieks. 

 The young bullfinches seem much distressed by 

 the heat, and lie gasping all the time with their 

 heads over the edge of the nest. They have 

 grown enormously, almost doubling in size during 

 the last two days. The female returns (11.18), 

 feeds and covers them. This is the first time 

 she has brought back food. She too seems to 

 feel the heat, notwithstanding the nest is well 

 shaded, and sits gasping with her beak open. 

 The male, who has seen her home, has gone off 

 with a beakful of excrement. At 11.45 the cock 

 appears with food. Both attend to the young, 

 and the two leave together. At 12.23 they both 

 return, the male with food, the female without. 

 The cock this time seems to have difficulty in 

 bringing up his supplies. After several attempts 

 to regurgitate, and looking meanwhile most bilious, 

 he eventually flies away. The hen seems restless 

 and uneasy ; after covering the young for a moment 

 or two, she rises, steps out of the nest, almost 

 upsetting one of the little ones as she does so, 

 and flies after him. 



" At 12.55 both bullfinches return, each bringing 

 food, with which they feed the young. Then the 



