THE BULLFINCH loi 



twitter of the Common Linnet, but is less mellow. The nest is 

 placed among heath, grass, or young com, and invariably on the 

 ground — in this respect differing from all other birds of the same 

 family. It is constructed of dry grass, moss, and roots, and lined 

 with various soft substances. The Mountain Linnet is generally called 

 the Twite, a syllable which its simple note is thought to resemble. 

 It is more shy as a nile than the Lesser Redpoll. 



THE BULLFINCH 



PYRRHULA EUROPjEA 



Crown, throat, plumage round the bill, wings and tail lustrous purple-black ; 

 upper part of the back bluish ash ; cheeks, neck, breast and flanks red 

 (in the female reddish brown) ; rump and abdomen pure white ; a broad 

 bufi and grey band across the wings. Length six and a quarter inches. 

 Eggs light greenish blue, speckled and streaked with light red and dark 

 purple. 



' The Bullfinch ', said MacgHlivray, usually so accurate an observer, 

 ' is not very common anywhere.' From this last remark I infer 

 that the author in question was never either proprietor or occupant 

 of a fruit-garden in a wooded district, or he would have reported 

 very differently of the frequency of the Bullfinch. During winter 

 the food of these birds consists exclusively of berries of various 

 kinds and seeds, especially of such weeds as thistle, rag-wort, duck- 

 weed, plantains, etc., either picked up from the ground or gathered 

 from herbs and shrubs. In spring, unfortunately for the gardener, 

 their taste alters, and nothing wiQ satisfy them but the blossom- 

 buds of fruit-trees, especially those which are cultivated They 

 attack, indeed, the buds of the sloe and hawthorn as well ; but 

 of these, being valueless, no one takes note. StOl keeping together 

 in small famUy parties, all uninvited, they pay niost unwelcome 

 visits to gooseberries, plums, and cherries, and, if undisturbed, 

 continue to haunt the same trees until aU hope of a crop is destroyed. 

 Gooseberry-bushes are left denuded of flower-buds, which have 

 been deliberately picked off and crushed between their strong 

 mandibles, while the leaf-buds, situated principally at the extremi- 

 ties of the branches, are neglected. Plum and cherry trees 

 are treated in hke manner, the ground being strewed with the 

 bud-scales and rudiments of flowers. Some persons endeavour 

 to deter them by whitewashing the trees, and are said to find this 

 plan effectual. Others wind a straw rope round the gooseberry- 

 bushes, so disguising their natural appearance. This plan I 

 found perfectly successful one year, but the next it was entu-ely 



