58 BRITISH BIRDS. 



There are several plantations, or small woods, within a mile or two of 

 the outskirts of Sheffield where the Hawfinch may be seen at all times of 

 the year. One, in particular, is principally composed of beech. Every 

 now and then you may hear a sharp click repeated several times, and you 

 may catch sight of a small flock of half a dozen birds flying in a straggling 

 manner through the topmost branches of the trees. You may recognize 

 them at once by their short tails and Hawk- or Cuckoo-like heads, causing 

 them to appear to have scarcely any neck. They arc very wild and shy, and 

 this, together with their rapid and powerful flight, makes them difficult to 

 shoot; but occasionally you may see them on the ground busUy engaged in 

 feeding upon the fallen mast under the beeches. Besides the sharp click 

 which appears to he generally uttered on the wing, and of which the letters 

 bpt serve to remind me, they have a feeble song in spring. A gentleman who 

 lives not far from this plantation tells me that before the nesting-season 

 he often hears the notes of these birds, which are by no means unmusical, 

 and are unlike those of any other bird — four simple whistles in an ascend- 

 ing scale, the first two at a slight interval and the last two repeated rapidly 

 one after the other, the final one being somewhat drawn out. The old 

 birds bring the young in their first spotted plumage to his garden to feed 

 upon the peas ; and he tells me that they also make havoc amongst his 

 cherries ; but unlike the Blackbirds, who eat the fruit and reject the stone, 

 the Hawfinches eat the stone and reject the fruit. 



As is usual with most showy birds, the Hawfinch is excessively shy, 

 and only frequents those locahties that are well timbered and afford 

 it plenty of shelter. Its chief haunts are in woods, fields in which there are 

 occasional clumps of trees, old orchards, and dense shrubberies, where the 

 evergreens make it a secluded retreat. Even in the suburbs of London the 

 Hawfinch is far from being a scarce bird, if a local one ; and, according to 

 Mr. Harting, it has nested, amongst other places, in the Horticultural 

 Gardens at Chiswick, in the neighbourhood of Harrow, at Muswell Hi'll, 

 and Hampstead. A bird that is so shy and retiring as the Hawfinch, 

 leaves but little to be said of its habits ; and the observer usually only gains 

 a transient glimpse of it as it hastens away into the deepest parts of the 

 cover. Like most of the British Pinches, the Hawfinch congregates into 

 flocks in winter, sometimes of only half a dozen individuals, probably the 

 young of the previous season and their parents, but occasionally in very 

 large numbers. The Hawfinch seems to have a great liking for yew trees 

 probably because they are so gloomy and dense, and partly because the 

 luscious berries are very palatable to it. The birds also frequent these trees 

 in winter to roost, approaching them in a very hurried manner, and in- 

 stantly disappearing amongst the foliage. 



Dixon, when in Algeria, made the following notes on this bird : — " We 

 only found the Hawfinch in the evergreen-oak forests on the hills abovQ 



