THE FINCHES. 59 



lish cocksparrow is a bit of a dandy, whilst his better half is 

 a picture of dowdiness. A park-keeper in Washington told 

 me the English sparrow is extremely aggressive there. He 

 not only drives away other small birds, but he even makes 

 combined attacks on squirrels. Here he seems to be content 

 to hold his own by force of numbers. I have never seen a China 

 sparrowattackany other kind of bird. I have seen him yield 

 respectfully to the self-assertive blackbird, but he takes his 

 place quietly alongside the dove, the bulbul, and even the azure 

 magpie, when the food spread out for the purpose has been 

 attractive to them all. Only for his homeliness, for his 

 attachment to man, and his absolute trustfulness, has the 

 sparrow any claim on our consideration. There is no 

 beauty for which to desire him. He has no song, his nest is 

 a collected heterogeneous proof of his lack of aesthetic taste. 

 Many people say he does more harm than good, that he must 

 go, and the sooner the better. They have said the same of 

 the rat. But both rats and sparrows seem to care very little. 



Of the commonest members of the finch family in and 

 near Shanghai, we have now to consider the hawfinch 

 (Coccothraiistes vulgaris.) He belongs to the grosbeak 

 group of a sub-family. Only a day or two ago one of these 

 attractive birds gave me an excellent opportunity for examin- 

 ing him at close quarters. He was looking for food in a 

 tree within twenty feet or so, and thus was brought to within 

 stroking distance by a really good glass. One first notes his 

 bill, that big, strong, broad-based yellow weapon with which 

 apparently the hardest of nuts and the biggest of peas could 

 with equal ease be "negotiated". It does not project from 

 the centre of the head, as does that of the warbler family, but 

 simply continues the curve of the head on the top and, with 

 a new turn, that of the throat beneath, for all the world as 

 though the bill were intended as the hardened "cap" to a 

 soft-nosed projectile. That is his only striking peculia,rity. 

 The rest of him is commonplace enough, but wonderfully 

 pretty nevertheless. Browns, light and dark, yellows, blue- 

 blacks, and other tints go to the completion of his artistic 

 coverture. He shuns rather than courts notice. You will find 

 him in winter with all his family around him, perhaps with 

 one or two families combined, for he likes a select company, 

 and with that is content to forage about trees and gardens, 

 caring little for the open country. He has a pretty little 

 song, very pure in intonation, very plaintive and at the same 

 time soothing. He seems all through the spring to be ad- 

 dressing his amorous tones to his own lady-love, for every 

 cadence ends up with "cherie". 



I have had two matronly hawfinches under observation 

 lately. One was actually over the Bubbling Well Road. She 



