202 THE BIRDS OF NORTHAMPTONSSlItE 



not a brilliant, but, to my taste, a very pleasing 

 performance, and infinitely preferable to the " piping " 

 of tunes artificially taught. This species is, from its 

 extreme docility and beauty, a very favourite cage- 

 bird in this country and on the continent, and with 

 proper care will live and thrive for many years in 

 confinement, and has often been known to breed in 

 that state. My friend Mr. Holden Hambrough, of 

 Pipewell Hall, Kettering, has kindly supplied me 

 with particulars concerning a pair of Bullfinches, 

 which, being allowed their liberty in Mrs. Hambrough's 

 sitting-room, for two successive seasons nested and 

 reared their brood in the skull of a deer which 

 hangs over a door. There is a prevalent story in our 

 neighbourhood that if a brood of young Bullfinches 

 is taken and placed out of doors in a cage the parent 

 birds will poison all but one of their progeny, but, 

 in common with a good many other bird-stories, this 

 very much " requkes confirmation." Several instances 

 of melanism in this species have come to my know- 

 ledge in Northamptonshire and elsewhere ; it is, I 

 believe, supposed that an exclusive course of hemp- 

 seed as food will produce this eff'ect. The Bullfinch 

 is found in most parts of Central Europe, Northern 

 Italy, and France. In Spain I have only met with it 

 sparingly in the province of Santander, whilst it 

 appears that in Northern and probably Eastern Europe 

 its place is occupied by an almost precisely similar 

 but larger form or species, viz. Fijrrhula major.^ Of 

 this latter bird I have kept several in confinement, 

 and can perceive no difi'erence in note or habits from 

 those of our common Bullfinch ; but I am informed 

 that they will not learn to pipe. 



Whilst revising this article for the press, I received, 



