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Mr. W. K. Teschemaker,



from an exhibition point of view— my weakest point, because I

rarely keep birds in cages. I got through the first series of

questions fairly well but I felt that disaster was at hand. When

we came to the Hawfinches my examiner suddenly said :— “ Have

you noticed the colour of the beak of a Hawfinch in summer?”

Iliad not; but I plunged, following Saunders, and I was lost.


Quite wrong,” said my friend severely, “ it is entirely black, and

if it is not black the bird is not in breeding condition.” Subse¬

quent experience has led me to think that my visitor was

right; in the spring the beak becomes black in patches, and later

in the season I have seen the beak almost entirely black. Of

course the exposure of my ignorance was galling but I was some¬

what consoled to find, on my next visit to the Natural History

Museum, that the beaks of the pair of birds in the case illus¬

trating the nesting of this species had not been painted black

and, when in the Central Hall I came across a clutch of Creeper’s

eggs with the statement that this species nests “ in holes,” I felt

better.


I quite expect to hear that the Hawfinch has been bred,

though I do not myself know of an instance. There are, however,

certain difficulties to be overcome. One of these is its remarkable

shyness which would probably prevent it from bleeding in an

aviary not provided with suitable covert. Another is its sullen,

savage disposition which has made it unpopular with aviarists.

There is a rough and ready method of testing the disposition of

any species which I have found very useful and, for a rule of

thumb method, singularly accurate, namely, to take the bird in

one’s hand and try if it will bite. If it bites even a little, watch

it very carefully when turned in amongst other birds ; if it bites

hard, never associate it with other birds. Grosbeaks show re¬

markable differences of disposition when tested in this way. Not

long since I handled half-a-dozen Blackdieaded Grosbeaks (//.

vielanocephalus) and could not induce one of them even to nibble ;

subsequent experience has proved the species to be absolutely

peaceable despite its large size and formidable beak. But the

bite of the Hawfinch is a thing one can never forget—a sort of

super-bite: it hangs on like a bull-dog and generally draws

blood. And the Hawfinch lives up to its bite. Should any



