298 Birds. 



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is the leader of the vernal chorus. When the oats are sown in 

 March, many small flocks betake themselves to the fields, feeding on 

 the uncovered grains, and such small seeds as may be turned up in 

 the course of tillage. Even our sheltered woods on the banks of 

 Whittingham-water are seldom altogether deserted, for the autumn 

 leaves, when swept aside by the blast, seem to disclose a multitude 

 of small seeds congenial to their taste. As the season advances, these 

 flocks gradually disperse, and none remain about the farm-yards but 

 such as breed in the garden and neighbouring hedge-rc^ws, and they 

 may be daily seen foraging for a supply of their winter fare, even in 

 midsummer, but desist entirely from pilfering from the sides of the 

 stacks : even the new fledged young partake of such food. During 

 the summer months insects and their larvae constitute their chief sup- 

 port, perhaps I might almost say, in many cases their only support, 

 for they are often found in the loneliest places in woods and planta- 

 tions. The first annoyance they give to the farmer is, by destroying 

 his early crops of radishes, turnips and onions, in the garden, besides 

 making sad havoc with his polyanthuses and auriculas ; but a few 

 barn-door fowls' feathers inserted into a piece of cork, and allowed 

 to dangle in the wind over the beds, are sure to drive away our merry 

 little songster, who does our apple, pear and apricot trees good ser- 

 vice, when infested by leaf-rolling caterpillars, besides other insect 

 foes of which we take no note. He is also a very useful auxiliary to 

 the farmer, as well as to the gardener, by destroying a multitude of 

 small seeds, amongst which I may enumerate those of the chickweed, 

 groundsel, bulbous and hairy crowfoot. He is one of the most de- 

 termined of all the plunderers of our turnip-seed, and I see that those 

 who practise this branch of husbandry sustain considerable loss, not- 

 withstanding that a watch is daily set. When our grain crops ripen 

 in August and September, the chaffinches which haunted the recesses 

 of woods and plantations flock to their borders, and unless the farmer 

 is attentive to such matters, as fi*om their small size they cannot be 

 perceived at a distance, their depredations are often canied on with 

 impunity. The trees around our dwellings are also the rendezvous of 

 parties of plunderers, who sometimes join the sparrows, but oftener 

 keep together, and feed amongst the standing corn, at a greater dis- 

 tance from the hedge-row than the latter ever venture. After the wheat 

 is cut, and placed in shocks, and whilst yet in a soft state, I have ob- 

 served the chaffinch deprive each grain of its outside coat previously 

 to swallowing it. Although they always prefer feeding in the neigh- 

 bourhood of trees or bushes, yet, as the season advances, they are 





