104 SEA-SIDE FINCH. 



coast, whence it pours forth with much emphasis the few notes of which its 

 song is composed. When one approaches it, it either seeks refuge amongst 

 the grass, by descending along the stalks and blades of the weeds, or flies off 

 to a short distance, with a continued flirting of its wings, then alights with 

 a rapid descent, and runs off with great nimbleness. I am inclined to believe 

 that it rears two broods in the season, as I have found birds of this species 

 sitting on their eggs early in May, and again in the beginning of July. 

 The nest is placed so close to the ground that one might suppose it partly 

 sunk in it, although this is not actually the case. It is composed of coarse 

 grasses externally, and is lined with finer kinds, but exhibits little regularity 

 in its structure. The eggs are from four to six, of an elongated oval form, 

 greyish-white, freckled with brown all over. The male and the female sit 

 alternately, and will not fly off at the sight of man, unless he attempts to 

 catch them on the nest, when they skulk off as if badly wounded. Many 

 nests may be found in the space of a few acres of these marshes, where the 

 land is most elevated, and where small shrubs are seen. They select these 

 spots, because they are not liable to be overflowed by high floods, and 

 because there are accumulated about them drifted sand, masses of sea-weed, 

 and other castings of the sea, among which they find much food of the kind 

 which they seem to prefer. This consists of marine insects, small crabs and 

 snails, as well as the green sand beetle, portions of all of which I have found 

 in their stomach. 



It is very difficult to shoot them unless when they are on wing, as their 

 movements while they run up and down the weeds are extremely rapid; but 

 their flight is so direct and level, that a good marksman can easily kill them 

 before they alight amongst the grass again. After the young are well grown, 

 the whole of these birds betake themselves to the ditches or sluices by which 

 the salt-marshes are intersected, fly along them, and there find abundant 

 food. They enter the larger holes of crabs, go into every crack and crevice 

 of the drying mud, and are then more difficult to be approached, as the 

 edges of these ditches are usually overgrown with taller and ranker sedges. 

 Having one day shot a number of these birds, merely for the sake of prac- 

 tice, I had them made into a pie, which, however, could not be eaten, on 

 account of its fishy savour. 



The rose on which I have drawn these birds is found so near the sea, on 

 rather higher lands than the marshes, that I thought it as fit as any other 

 plant for the purpose, more especially as the Finches, when very high tides 

 overflow the marshes, take refuge in these higher grounds. It is sweetly 

 scented, and blooms from May to August. I have never met with it else- 

 where than on the small sea islands and along the coasts, where it grows in 

 loose sandv soil. 



