I02 The Bull-finch. 



quick, is somewhat undulating or wavering ; and in the winter 

 it may sometimes be seen in large numbers flitting along the 

 roadsides and hedges, being probably forced out of some of 

 its shyness by the stress of hunger. Its ordinary note is a soft 

 and plaintive whistle ; its song, short and mellow. It is, in its 

 native state, no way distinguished as a singing-bird, but at the 

 same time it is possessed of a remarkable faculty for learning 

 tunes artificially, of which I may have more to say presently. 



The bull-finch begins to build about the beginning of May. 

 She places her nest, as we see in our illustration, in a bush, 

 frequently a hawthorn, at no great distance from the ground. 

 The nest is not very solidly put together ; the foundation, so 

 to speak, being composed of small dry twigs, then finished 

 off with fibrous roots and moss, which also form the lining. 

 The eggs, five or six in number, are of a dull bluish- white, 

 marked at the larger end with dark spots. 



Although there is so little to say about the bull-finch in his 

 natural state — excepting that he is a handsome bird, with bright 

 black eyes, a sort of rich black hood on his head ; his back, 

 ash-grey ; his breast and underparts, red ; wings and tail, black, 

 with the upper tail-coverts white — yet when he has gone through 

 his musical education, he is not only one of the most accom- 

 plished of song-birds, but one of the most loving and faithfully 

 attached little creatures that can come under human care. 

 These trained birds are known as piping bull-finches. 



Bishop Stanley, in his " History of Birds," thus describes 

 the method by which they are taught : — 



" In the month of June, the young ones, which are taken 

 from the nest for that purpose, are brought up by a person, 



