576 FRINGILLID A. 
rities it appears that the Bullfinch is a more decided bud- 
destroyer than any other British Bird. In winter it feeds 
on hips, the fruit of the dog-rose, berries, and seeds. To- 
wards the end of April this bird leaves the gardens for 
more secluded situations, and begins with its mate to seek 
a place of security for its nest. Being rather a late 
breeder, it seldom begins to build till the beginning of 
May, and produces but one brood in the season. The 
nest is formed of small twigs, and lined with fibrous roots, 
the materials not very compactly entwined together, and 
usually placed, four or five feet above the grouud, on a 
branch of a fir tree, or in a thick bush. The eggs are 
four or five in number of a pale blue, speckled and streaked 
with purplish grey and dark purple. These are hatched 
towards the end of May, after fifteen days’ incubation. 
The shy and retiring habits of the Bullfinch have been 
already referred to, and it is known that a slight provo- 
cation will in general cause it to desert its nest ; but W. 
H. R. Read, Esq. of Frickley Hail in Yorkshire, has re- 
corded in the Naturalist that in the early part of June 
1838, a Bullfinch allowed herself to be caressed while 
sitting on her young ones, and would feed from the hand 
without the least fear. The nest was in a laurel-bush, 
close to the house. Mr. Neville Wood has recorded the 
finding of an egg of the Bullfinch on the ground in York- 
shire so late as the 15th of November. 
The young birds of the year continue to associate with 
the parents through the autumn and winter till the pairmg 
time of the following spring; and so constant is the at- 
tachment of adult birds throughout the year, that they 
are believed, like some other species among birds, to pair 
for life. The Bullfinch will breed in confinement, particu- 
larly in aviaries where there is sufficient space. Hybrids, 
