HAWFINCH. 59 



Lambessa. Here it was by no means common, and we only saw several 

 scattered pairs. The Hawfinch is shy enough in England, as is well 

 known, and one would almost be led to think that the cause of this shy- 

 ness was the incessant manner in which it is hunted both by gardeners 

 and collectors, if we did not find it just as wild and wary in these forest 

 solitudes of Algeria, where man is so rare an animal as to cause it no 

 alarm. The birds were evidently mated, although incubation had not 

 commenced, for each male was accompanied by a female. We first met 

 with them in a small natural clearing in the forest, where the trees were 

 scattered in clumps far apart. It was, as a rule, only when they were fly- 

 ing from tree to tree that we could see them ; but sometimes we observed 

 them sitting quietly amongst the branches, turning their large heads from 

 side to side, and peering about in all directions, as if in search of the cause 

 of alarm. The flight of this bird is undulating, but sometimes straight- 

 forward, and is then very rapid. As they flew from tree to tree, I 

 noticed that they usually dropped down into the branches, far less 

 frequently flying up into them. We did not hear them utter any call- 

 notes ; but when at rest the male birds occasionally twittered a little, 

 something like Greenfinches." 



The Hawfinch is not much of a songster. It has a few notes, which can 

 scarcely be called more than a low chatter. There is nothing very striking 

 in its performance ; but when several are twittering away together the 

 general effect is very pleasant. Its call-note is said to resemble the well- 

 known zh of the Greenfinch. 



The Hawfinch pairs about the middle of April, and its nest is rarely built 

 before the trees are in full foliage. The site for the nest differs consider- 

 ably. A favourite place is in the apple- or pear-trees in an orchard, or in 

 an old whitethorn, often in quite an exposed situation ; and when it breeds 

 in woods it often selects a hornbeam, or less frequently a holly. The Haw- 

 finch does not often breed in shrubberies, and its nest is somewhat rarely 

 placed in evergreen trees ; but it has been found amongst ivy. It will 

 also build in tall oak trees ; and Doubleday says that it occasionally nests 

 in fir trees in plantations. Sometimes the nest is only a few feet from the 

 ground, at others it is as much as forty feet. The nest is usually com- 

 menced by the latter end of April or early in May, and sometimes several 

 will be found in the same plantation. Mr. Thomasson informs me that he 

 once found three nests in one orchard. The nest is a very beautiful piece 

 of handiwork, and is similar to that of the Bullfinch, but on an enlarged 

 scale. The outside is invariably made of twigs, frequently intermixed with 

 lichens and sometimes with dry plants ; and the cup of the nest is formed 

 of dry grasses, lined with fine roots and often a little hair. The nest, as a 

 whole, is very flat and somewhat bulky ; but the cup is not unusually 

 shallow, and is neatly finished. The eggs of the Hawfinch vary from four 



