BULLFINCH. 575 



THE BULLFINCH is too common a bird not to be exceed- 

 ingly well known, and is found in most parts of England, 

 but particularly those which are wooded and cultivated, 

 preferring gardens, orchards, hedgerows, plantations, and 

 small woods, to bleak and exposed tracks of common, 

 waste, or moor. It is rather shy and retiring in its habits, 

 and is seldom seen associated with any but its own species. 

 In confinement this bird appears to have an extraordinary 

 appetite ; and at large is found to be particularly destruc- 

 tive in gardens throughout the spring of the year, devour- 

 ing the flower buds of the various sorts of gooseberries, 

 cherries, and plums, in succession, to such an extent, as 

 to destroy, if unmolested, all prospect of any crop of fruit 

 for that season. The author of the Journal of a Natu- 

 ralist, says, " In all instances I think it will be observed, 

 that such buds as produce leaves only are rejected, and 

 those which contain the embryo of the future blossom se- 

 lected : by this procedure, though the tree is prevented 

 from producing fruit, yet the foliage is expanded as usual ; 

 but had the leaves the lungs of the plant been indis- 

 criminately consumed, the tree would probably have died, 

 or its summer growth been materially injured ; we may 

 thus lose our fruit this year, yet the tree survives, and 

 hope lives too, that we may be more fortunate the next." 

 Mr. Selby, in the first volume of the Naturalist, remarks, 

 " With me the Bullfinches are very destructive, particu- 

 larly to the plum trees, apples, medlars, &c. It is the 

 blossom buds that are chiefly preferred. I have dissected 

 dozens of these birds, and have never found any remains 

 of insects in the crop or stomach. They are here very 

 numerous, being fostered by the extensive plantations I 

 have made ; and I am obliged, reluctantly I must say, to 

 make war on them every spring." From various autho- 



