BULLFINCH. 167 



is seldom found associated with birds of any other species. 

 It is most numerous in the wooded districts or those which 

 are enclosed by high and tangled hedgerows, whence it 

 makes its way to our shrubberies, orchards and gardens. 

 Here it has earnt for itself an ill name beyond almost any 

 other bird, for, while the Sparrow has many apologists and 

 defenders, little has been urged in extenuation of the Bull- 

 finch. Countless dissections have proved that the remains of 

 insects are so rarely found in its crop or stomach that their 

 entrance into its diet must be regarded as accidental,* while 

 the regular way in which it will at times set itself to bite off 

 the blossom-buds from one bough after another cannot be 

 denied by its warmest advocate. Even so friendly an author 

 as Selby writes (Nat. 1837, p. 208) that he was reluctantly 

 obliged to make war on it every spring. Yet there is a very 

 considerable choice used in its method. Some trees or bushes 

 will be wholly spared, while others growing among them 

 will be utterly stript. A like selection is exercised, as has 

 been before noticed (vol. i. page 484), by the Blue Titmouse, 

 but in that case the object is clear, while in the present it is 

 hidden. It must not be set down to mere caprice : some 

 cause doubtless exists and should be sought. When it is 

 found we shall probably be able to judge the deeds of the 

 Bullfinch with that knowledge of the circumstances which 

 impartiality requires. Its so-called ravages, however, are 

 confined to a very short period of the year about a month 

 or six weeks at the end of winter or beginning of spring, 

 and, as observed long since by Knapp, the buds which pro- 

 duce leaves are passed over, and those containing the embryo 

 of the blossom only eaten. Thus, " though the tree is pre- 

 vented from producing fruit, yet the foliage is expanded as 

 usual ; but had the leaves, the lungs of the plant, been in- 

 discriminately consumed, the tree would probably have died, 



* It must be remarked, however, that Macgillivray, a good authority on such a 

 point, says: "Judging from the structure of its digestive organs, I should 

 doubt that such crude vegetable matters as buds could afford it sufficient nourish- 

 ment." Newman also asserts (Zool. p. 8649) that it renders important services in 

 devouring the larvae of Chimatobia brumata, a very common and destructive pest 

 in gardens. 



VOL. II. Z 



