the Hawfinch in winter generally selects the highest 
bare branches of a tall tree, whence its sharp “ twit,” 
“twit,” is constantly to be heard; on the slightest 
alarm the flock darts off with a very swift, undulating 
flight to a place of safety. In the summer months, 
when not busy amongst our pea-rows, our bird fre- 
quents dense foliage, in my experience showing a 
marked predilection for that of the yew tree, which is 
also a very favourite nesting-locality. The nests, how- 
ever, may roughly be said to be built almost anywhere, 
generally at a considerable height from the ground; I 
have seen them in thick hawthorns, frequently in old 
apple- or pear-trees, once in a young sycamore, in 
almost every common conifer, and more than once near 
the extremities of the horizontal boughs of oak, horse- 
chestnut, and beech. The nest is large and_ loosely 
built outside of pliable twigs, root-fibres, and lichens 
neatly lined with fine grass and hair. The eggs are five 
or six, of a pale greenish blue, spotted and streaked 
with dark brown. 
The Hawfinch, or, as it is frequently called, the 
Grosbeak, thrives well in a cage, and becomes very 
tame if often noticed and spoken to, but I have found 
that in a large aviary these birds sooner or later inva- 
riably kill themselves by dashing against the wires. In 
the pairing-season the male Hawfinch has a low, con- 
versational warble; but I never heard any vocal per- 
formance of our bird that could rightly be designated 
as a song. 
