THE FINCHES 211 



Memory often plays tricks with this careful and costly 

 education which " Bully " has received. And sometimes 

 temper or wilfulness makes him spoil his own j)erformance. 

 Mr. J. G. Wood relates of a Bullfinch which he once knew, 

 that "he had forgotten the first two or three bars of 

 ' Cherry Ripe/ and always used to begin, in the most 

 absurd way, in the middle of a phrase. He always finished 

 with a long whistle, as of surprise, and then began to 

 chuckle and hop about the table, as if greatly charmed 

 with his own performance." 



Perhaps the wilfulness of a Bullfinch makes him all the 

 more interesting and lovable, as a pet. He has so many 

 likes and dislikes. This he hates and that he loves. He 

 will get in a furious rage with something or some one he 

 has come to regard as his enemy ; yet he has been known 

 to die of a broken heart when he thought himself neglected 

 by the person he loved. 



Of the third group, the Buntings, little can be said 

 here. They need and deserve a chapter to themselves. 

 But mention may be made of the most common of them, 

 the Yellow Bunting, better known as the YELLOW 

 HAMMER.' 



This is the pretty bird whose plaintive note is said by 

 the country boys to be best rendered by the phrase, "a 

 little bit of bread and — no cheese," the first six words being 

 said trippingly, and the last two prolonged in a doleful key. 



Years ago, Gilbert White of Selborne noticed that the 

 Yellow Hammer continued its singing well past Mid- 

 summer Day. This was, indeed, less than the whole truth. 

 For it begins among the earliest birds in s]3ring, and does 

 not cease singing until September. 



1 More correctly the name should be spelt without the H, for it comes 

 from the German word Ammer, a Bunting. 



