54 BRITISH BIRDS. 



species by having the markings smaller, and generally of a much richer 

 brown, almost black; they have also more gloss upon them. The eggs 

 of the Common Bullfinch vary from '85 to *7 inch in length, and from 

 '6 to '55 inch in breadth. 



During the hatching-season the Bullfinches are very quiet ; the female 

 alone appears to sit upon the nest, and is so tame at this period, or rather 

 so unwilling to move, that she will often allow the observer to approach 

 her within a few feet ere she quits her charge. It is not improbable that 

 the Bullfinch rears two broods in the season ; for eggs of this bird may be 

 found as late as the end of June and beginning of July. The young are 

 tended for some considerable time after they leave the nest, and, in some 

 instances at least, remain with their parents throughout the autumn and 

 winter. 



The food of the Bullfinch is almost exclusively composed of vegetable 

 substances fruits and berries and various kinds of seeds. It does not, 

 however, live exclusively on these, and in summer will feed on small 

 insects. Dixon has the following note on this subject: "I have seen a 

 Bullfinch in July, a time of the year when it is unusually shy and retiring, 

 hovering above the tall plants near a stream in the secluded corner of a 

 shrubbery, catching insects just like a Flycatcher. It was a female bird, 

 and had a nest close at hand in a dense yew tree. It also repeatedly en- 

 deavoured to alight on some large fern-leaves, which always bent 

 under its weight, as if seeking for the various insects that infest such 

 situations. The Greenfinch will also feed in a precisely similar manner.. 

 It is also hard to believe that the young of this bird are reared on any 

 other food but insects, and doubtless many kinds of larvae are captured for 

 this purpose." For the greater part of the year, however, the Bullfinch 

 feeds on the seeds of the most noxious plants and rank grasses. It will eat 

 those of the dock, the nettle, the groundsel, chickweed, thistle, and a host 

 of others, whilst its love for berries is none the less, and it eagerly feeds 

 on those of the wild rose, the hawthorn, the privet, the elder, and some 

 others. The Bullfinch is also fond of other fare, and its love for the 

 tender buds of fruit-trees too often lures it to destruction. It is seldom 

 respected by the gardener, who, in shooting it down, makes bad worse, 

 and does more damage in one discharge of his gun than a host of Bull- 

 finches would in a week. Early in the year the bird may often be seen on 

 the branches of cherry-, plum-, apple-, and pear-trees, or on the twigs of the 

 gooseberry and currant-bushes, and the ground is strewed with the cases of 

 the buds, marking out its course. Singularly enough the bird confines its 

 attentions to the flower-buds, those producing leaves being passed by. This 

 destructive habit of the Bullfinch cannot be defended or excused; but 

 further research may prove that the bird is, after all, a real benefactor to 

 the tree from which it levies such a costly tribute. At this season of the 



