BULFINCH. 159 



after their annual visit. In stripping gooseberry bushes a 

 very systematic operation is carried on : the little destroyer 

 perches upon a small branch near its intersection with the 

 stem, and devours in succession as many buds as he can con- 

 veniently reach : these are mostly the fruit- bearing ones : 

 those at the extremity of each branch, therefore, the leaf- 

 bearing buds, remain untouched. Besides fruit-trees these 

 birds devour the buds of the larch, birch, white and black 

 thorn, and others. 



During the other seasons of the year bulfmches feed upon 

 berries of various kinds, and the seeds of fir-trees. We 

 have observed them frequently among alder-trees very assi- 

 duously picking the seeds from their cones. When caged 

 these birds are usually fed with hemp, rape, and canary-seed ; 

 they are also exceedingly fond of the pips of apples. 



The wild note of the Bulfincli is a plaintive whistle. " Its 

 song," says Selby, "is very soft and pleasing, but delivered 

 in such an undertone as to be inaudible at a short distance, 

 and hence few common observers are aware that it possesses a 

 native song, 11 



The capacity for instruction in these birds, and the per- 

 fection to which their song may be brought, are too well 

 known to need more than a passing remark ; but this educa- 

 tion requires such constant trouble to instil, and such care to 

 preserve uncorrupted, that none but their German teachers 

 could have sufficient patience to accomplish. 



The Bulfinch is a late builder, and seldom produces more 

 than one brood in a season. Its nest, placed in a hedge or 

 copse, and generally in a lonely situation, is composed of 

 twigs, moss, and fine fibrous roots. The eggs, usually five in 

 number, are of very handsome appearance ; they are greenish 

 blue in the ground colour, and spotted, in a zone around the 

 larger end, with orange, lilac, and black. 



The entire length of this species is six inches and a quar- 



