THE BLUE-EYED YELLOW WARBLER. 531 



There was a little spinney which I once knew, in which 

 were any number of Bullfinch-nests, the underwood being very 

 attractive to the birds. All the nests were built very low, seldom 

 more than four feet from the ground, and, to the best of my 

 recollection, were placed among the branches of hazel and dog- 

 wood. The nest of the Bullfinch is by no means so neat and 

 smooth as that of the goldfinch, but is made in a much looser 

 manner ; the foundation being formed of slender twigs, usually 

 those of the birch, and the inner wall of the nest woven of 

 delicate fibrous roots. This wall is flimsy in structure, rather 

 shallow, and neither so deep nor so round as that of the 

 goldfinch. The lining is made of similar materials, but of a 

 finer kind. 



The quantity of sticks used as the foundation for this nest 

 varies according to the kind of branch on which it is placed; 

 for when the bird selects a forked twig, such as that of the hazel 

 or dogwood, it uses a considerable quantity of sticks ; but when 

 it places its nest on the nearly horizontal spray of the fir, it finds 

 a sufficient foundation ready made, and only just lays a few 

 twigs to fill up a blank space. The egg of the Bullfinch is 

 something like that of the goldfinch, but larger and more con- 

 spicuously spotted. 



In some works upon the eggs and nests of birds, the Bull- 

 finch is said to build in bushes of considerable height and size. 

 Now, this is not necessarily the case, inasmuch as the spinney 

 which has just been mentioned was composed entirely of trees 

 and low brushwood, and the Bullfinches always preferred the 

 latter. I certainly have often found their nests in tall bushes, 

 and sometimes in trees ; but they were always placed at so low 

 an elevation, that the height of the tree or bush had no effect on 

 that of the nest. 



If the reader will refer to page 181, he will see a short account 

 of the Hoop-shaver Bee, which strips off the down that clothes 

 the stem of the common bladder-campion, or white-bottle {Silene 

 injlatd), and uses it for the lining of her nest. 



There is a bird found in North America, which has a similar 

 habit, peeling off the downy hairs of plants, and using them in 

 the structure of its nest. This is the pretty little Blue-eyed 

 Yellow Warbler {Sylvia citrinella), remarkable for the contrast 



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