334 STRANGE DWELLINGS. 



streak is seen ; but the spots are the rule, and the streaks the 

 exception. 



Altogether, it is hardly possible to find a more beautiful 

 group than is made by a pair of Goldfinches, their nest, and 



eggs. 



The nest of the Bullfinch {Pyrrhula vulgaris) is unlike 

 that of the goldfinch, though it is sometimes found in similar 

 localities. This bird seems to be rather capricious in its 

 ideas of nest-making, sometimes preferring trees, and sometimes 

 building in shrubs. 



There was a little spinney which I once knew, in which 

 were any number of Bullfinch-nests, the underwood being very 

 attractive to the birds. All the nests were built vQry low, seldom 

 more than four feet from the ground, and, to the best of my 

 recollection, were placed among the branches of hazel and dog- 

 wood. The nest of the Bullfinch is by no means so neat and 

 smooth as that of the goldfinch, but is made in a much looser 

 manner ; the foundation being formed of slender twigs, usually 

 those of the birch, and the inner wall of the nest woven of 

 delicate fibrous roots. This wall is flimsy in structure, rattier 

 shallow, and neither so deep nor so round as that of the 

 goldfinch. The lining is made of similar materials, but of a 

 finer kind. 



The quantity of sticks used as the foundation for this nest 

 varies according to the kind of branch on which it is placed ; 

 for when the bird selects a forked twig, such as that of the hazel 

 or dogwood, it uses a considerable quantity of sticks ; but when 

 it places its nest on the nearly horizontal spray of the fir, it finds 

 a sufficient foundation ready made, and only just lays a few 

 twigs to fill up a blank space. The egg of the Bullfinch is 

 something like that of the goldfinch, but larger and more con- 

 spicuously spotted. 



In some works upon the eggs and nests of birds, the Bull- 

 finch is said to build in bushes of considerable height and size. 

 Now, this is not necessarily the case, inasmuch as the spinney 

 which has just been mentioned was composed entirely of trees 



