THE BULLFINCH 89 



were near, and often the first intimation that I 

 had of the return of the old birds, was the sight 

 of five heads shooting up into the air. The 

 young ones were extremely sensitive to the slightest 

 vibration of the branches, and it was no doubt 

 the slight shaking that told them when their 

 parents were at hand. Only once did I see the 

 cock bullfinch take food from the hen, which 

 episode I have described above, but he several 

 times gave it to her, though not as often as she 

 wanted. She would stand with open beak mutely 

 appealing to him, but more often than not he 

 took no notice and went on with the business in 

 hand, paying no attention to her despite the 

 open beak. 



After the first six days the parents shared their 

 duties equally, both as regards feeding and carrying 

 of excreta. Their visits, which to begin with had 

 been at twenty-minute intervals, got farther and 

 farther apart, until, by the time the young w r ere 

 ready to fly, food was only brought once in three- 

 quarters of an hour or even longer. Once or 

 twice the old birds were away for more than an 

 hour, with the result that the nest had become 

 quite dirty during their absence, but they cleaned 

 it up carefully on their return. 



It was surprising how fast the nestlings grew; 

 w r hen only seven days old I noted : " The young 

 grow like mushrooms ; they seem to have doubled 

 in size in the night, and are much stronger, for they 

 can now hold their heads right up in the air. 

 When they do so, with their great blind eyes and 



