186 THE BULLFINCH. 



offered ; and the bell must be rung as long as he is eating. 

 When he has had enough, he must be carried about on the 

 hand ; upon which, as he finds he cannot get loose, he will at 

 last begin to eat quietly. On the third or fourth day he will 

 probably of his own accord fly to the hand in which the seed 

 bag is ; he must then be let go, and will be found to follow the 

 hand, however far it is withdrawn. Should he take the op- 

 portunity of flying away, he must again be bound, and left 

 without food for several hours. In this manner, the Bullfinch 

 may be tamed in the course of a few days, and be taught to 

 fly to the hand whenever he hears the bell. To complete the 

 process, it is now necessary only to make the aperture of his 

 seed vessel somewhat narrow, so as to force him to open it ; 

 or perhaps to give him only rape seed in the cage, and reserve 

 the hemp seed for the hand. He will also learn to drink from 

 the mouth, if kept without water for half a day. A bird thus 

 trained, might easily be taught to fly in and out ; though in 

 this case, the neighbourhood of a forest would be dangerous. 

 A sure method, in such a case, to lead the wanderer back, 

 would be to place his mate, with her wings clipped, in a cage 

 before the window of the room to which he is desired to 

 return. 



ADDITIONAL. The gardeners in this country call the Bullfinch 

 " Pick-a-bud," in reference to a well-known mischievous habit 

 which it has : it is, in truth, a sad depredator, although not, as 

 KNAPP contends, without any redeeming virtues; there is no doubt 

 that a large proportion of the buds of the cherry and other fruit 

 trees which it destroys have a worm at the core, which would pre- 

 vent the fulfilment of their promise to yield fruit in due season. 

 NEVILLE WOOD, in his Ornithologist's Text Book, expresses a 

 decided opinion, founded, he says, upon close observation, that the 

 whole of the buds which the bird destroys contain grubs, which 

 only are eaten, the vegetable envelope being rejected. Whether 

 this is really so we cannot say, much difference of opinion pre- 

 vailing on the subject, even among those who ought to be Best 

 informed. 



Besides the name above mentioned, the Bullfinch is variously 

 called the Coal-hood, Ked-hoop, Tony-hoop, Alp, Pope, and 

 Nope, most of the names having reference to the distinctive 

 marks of .the plumage. It is generally distributed throughout 

 Britain, occurring in most of the wooded and cultivated districts, 

 although not very common any where ; and from its shy habits, 

 and the low unobtrusive nature of its wild melody, few persons 



