400 PERCHING BIRDS. 



from its mate at any time of the year. Generally commencing to build about the 

 middle of May in ordinary seasons, the bullfinch may lay a full clutch of eggs as 

 early as the middle of April ; and the nest is generally placed in a low tree or bush, 

 seldom at a greater height than five feet from the gound. Composed of slender 

 twigs, it is flat and shallow, but firmly woven together, and lined with root-fibres ; 

 the eggs varying from four to six in number, and being greenish blue in ground- 

 colour, speckled and spotted with purplish grey, and dark purplish markings. Two 

 or even three broods of young are sometimes reared in a season, in all of which the 

 male sex largely predominates ; indeed, there are cases where all the young in a brood 

 have been of this sex. When the young leave the nest, they live with their parents 

 in family parties, searching the hedgerows for the berries of privet and other wild 

 shrubs. In the breeding-season the cock bullfinch is a pugnacious bird, always 

 ready to do battle with any intruder who may venture into his territory. The 



bullfinch does not appear to be migratory 

 to any large extent, although it wanders 

 considerable distances when pressed by 

 hunger. In England it is seldom that 

 more than nine or ten are seen in a flock, 

 but in Southern Sweden the large form 

 wanders about in big droves, sometimes 

 composed exclusively of the male sex. 

 Generally feeding almost entirely on wild 

 seeds, fruit -buds, and berries, in severe 

 weather the bullfinch devours the seeds of 

 the common plantain. The flight of the 

 bullfinch is generally low and undulating ; 

 THE BULLFINCH. but at times these birds may be seen 



flying at a considerable elevation, and 



alighting on the tops of the tallest forest trees. The natural song is feeble and 

 without pretension ; not that this species is devoid of musical taste, for the young 

 males, if untrained, essay to sing their natural notes as soon as they are about four 

 weeks old, but rather that the bird stands in need of a tutor, by whose patience 

 its capacity for reproducing a lively air may be turned to practical account. The 

 Germans bestow great pains upon the teaching of their tiny pupils, and are con- 

 tent to turn out only a limited number of really accomplished birds. The call- 

 note is low and plaintive, and one of the most familiar of the varied sounds that 

 from time to time break the silence of English woodlands. The plumage is 

 subject to considerable variation, even in a wild state ; one of the most remark- 

 able varieties being creamy-dun colour, contrasting strongly with the jetty black 

 crown, wings, and tail. The cock -bird sometimes combines a rosy breast with 

 upper-parts of snowy whiteness. Typically the adult male is bluish grey above ; 

 the crown, wings, and tail, being glossy black ; the rump white, and conspicuous 

 when the bird is seen upon the wing ; and the lower-parts pale vermilion, varying 

 much in intensity. The female's breast is chocolate-brown. 



The Pine- Included by some writers among the bullfinches, but by others 



Grosbeak. referred to a distinct genus, the pine-grosbeak (Pinicola enucleator), 



