172 HAWFINCH. 
localities, it appears to be generally distributed, although nowhere 
very common ; but in the south, from Spain to Turkey, as well as in 
Asia Minor, it is a more abundant resident species. In North-western 
India we find Dr. R. B. Sharpe’s paler species, C. Aumii, while a 
slightly different subspecies, C. japonicus, inhabits Eastern Siberia, 
North China and Japan. In Morocco the Hawfinch is rare ; but it 
breeds sparingly in Algeria, occurs in Tunisia, and has wandered to 
Egypt and Palestine. 
The nest, built at the end of April or early in May, is generally 
placed in trees overgrown with grey lichens, such as old hawthorns, 
apple- and pear-trees; the horizontal branches of oaks, beeches 
and spruce firs, the heads of pollarded hornbeams, and holly 
bushes are also selected. It is a rather flat structure, built of twigs 
mixed with grey lichen, and lined with fine roots and a little hair. 
The eggs, 4-5 in number, are pale olive- or bluish-green, spotted 
and streaked irregularly with dark olive- and greyish-brown: 
measurements ‘98 in. by ‘72 in. Only one brood is reared in the 
season, but if the first nest is interfered with, another is built. 
The young are fed largely on caterpillars, but otherwise the food of 
this species consists largely of peas, the kernels of cherry-stones 
(which are crushed by the powerful bill), and of the seeds of the 
hornbeam and other trees, beechmast, haws and similar berries. In 
winter small parties and even flocks are formed, and a certain 
amount of movement—hardly to be called migration—takes place 
in England. The song is short and poor; the call-note is a prolonged 
whistle repeated four times. 
The adult male in spring has the lores, a narrow frontal line con- 
necting them, and also the throat, deep black ; head orange-brown ; 
nape grey; back dull brown, paler on the rump and tail-coverts ; 
upper wing-coverts blackish, followed by a line of white which turns 
to brown on the secondaries; quills black, with white patches on the 
inner webs, and with steel-blue tips, which, from the fifth inwards, 
are jagged ; tail-coverts orange-brown, and very long ; tail-feathers 
black at the bases and dark on the outer webs, their ends white; under 
parts vinous-brown ; bill dull black at tip, leaden-blue at the base ; 
legs and feet flesh-colour. Length 7 in.; wing nearly 4 in. Female; 
less orange-brown on the head and duller in colour. In winter the 
bill in both sexes is pale horn-colour. The young bird has the head 
and cheeks yellowish-brown ; mantle mottled brown ; under parts 
dirty white, spotted and barred with dark brown; throat white, 
tinged with yellow; bill olive. By August black feathers begin to 
appear on the throat. 
