270 Seeds and Sowers 



shells of those little nuts without repeated blows ; 

 it reaches here the limit of its powers. Perfect 

 provision for securing this form of diet is found 

 in some of the finches. The conical bill of the 

 common sparrow is the most familiar example of 

 a bill of the seed-crushing type ; but the sparrow 

 is framed for feeding on small seeds and grains, and 

 its bill is not very highly developed. In the green- 

 finch it reaches full proportions ; while in the 

 hawfinch it is exaggerated to a degree which would 

 be positively grotesque if it were not so exactly 

 designed to a definite and serviceable end. Size 

 against size, for a hawfinch to crack a plumstone 

 is almost as if a man could crack a coco-nut in 

 his teeth ; and it is small wonder that the haw- 

 finch's head and bill are almost monstrous to enable 

 it to practise daily, and as a matter of course, so 

 disproportionate a feat. The boldly mottled plu- 

 mage of the hawfinch, as well as its massive bill and 

 neck, make it one of the most remarkable in appear- 

 ance of all small birds ; and its steady increase of 

 late years has added interest to the bird-life of 

 many districts, though it is not welcomed by 

 gardeners. 



Hawfinches are fond of cherry-kernels, and hunt 

 beneath the trees of a cherry orchard for the fallen 

 stones, like the tits and greenfinches beneath the 

 woodland yews. They are also accused of attacking 

 ripe cherries for the kernels, just as blackbirds and 

 starlings do for the pulp. This charge does not 

 seem to have been fully proved ; but it is certain 

 that, like jays, they can clear off a crop of green 



