the Hawfinch in winter generally selects the highest 

 bare branches of a tall tree, whence its sharp " twit," 

 " twit," is constantly to be heard ; on the slightest 

 alarm the flock darts off with a very swift, undulating 

 flight to a place of safety. In the summer months, 

 when not busy amongst our pea-rows, our bird fre- 

 quents dense foliage, in my experience showing a 

 marked predilection for that of the yew tree, which is 

 also a very favourite nesting-locality. The nests, how- 

 ever, may roughly be said to be built almost anywhere, 

 generally at a considerable height from the ground ; I 

 have seen them in thick hawthorns, frequently in old 

 apple- or pear-trees, once in a young sycamore, in 

 almost every common conifer, and more than once near 

 the extremities of the horizontal boughs of oak, horse- 

 chestnut, and beech. The nest is large and loosely 

 built outside of pliable twigs, root-fibres, and lichens 

 neatly lined with fine grass and hair. The eggs are five 

 or six, of a pale greenish blue, spotted and streaked 

 with dark brown. 



The Hawfinch, or, as it is frequently called, the 

 Grosbeak, thrives well in a cage, and becomes very 

 tame if often noticed and spoken to, but I have found 

 that in a large aviary these birds sooner or later inva- 

 riably kill themselves by dashing against the wires. In 

 the pairing-season the male Hawfinch has a low, con- 

 versational warble ; but I never heard any vocal per- 

 formance of our bird that could rightly be designated 

 as a song. 



