Birds. 



6599 



keep their crops continually crammed and themselves clean, and 

 there is no fear of them. 



The Hawfinch (F. coccothraustes). So far as I know, this is a rather 

 a rare bird with us. Single individuals, very rarely pairs, are now 

 and then to be seen in our higher districts. A pair are said to have 

 bred in a wood near here called Whyntie. One was captured near 

 Huntly, three winters since, by boys taking linnets, larks, &c. 



The Goldfinch (F. carduelis). Time was when we Banff folks could 

 have boasted of having the goldie in pretty fair numbers ; but now 

 they are nearly as rare as white corbies or dead craws. About thirty 

 years ago, and previous to that, several were known annually to breed 

 in many of the gardens throughout the town, as well as in orchards, 

 gardens and plantations in the country. Bird-catchers, however, came 

 and scoured the land, and the bonnie-painted goldie, with several 

 others, grew less and less common by degrees. That some may yet 

 nestle within our boundaries is quite probable, for small parties are 

 occasionally seen in very severe winters by the sea-shore ; but, by- 

 the-bye, these may come from Morayshire, or from the other side of 

 the Firth, where, I believe, they are rather plentiful, in summer at least. 

 Next to, if not before, the golden crest and the longtailed titmouse, 

 the goldfinch's nest is one of Nature's master-pieces. What a beautiful 

 piece of workmanship ! how exquisitely woven together ! how light, 

 compact, soft and warm its internal lining ! and how complete ! What 

 hand could imitate the woolly, feathery, mossy, cup-formed, half ball- 

 like structure ? How vain the attempt ! If any one wishes to have 

 a cage-bird to cheer him with its song, let him get a male hybrid 

 between this species and a canary, and I am sure he will not be dis- 

 appointed. I have had them, and I have known many others who 

 have kept them also, and I must positively state that they are the most 

 lavish of their music of any cage-bird I know. I do not think that 

 crosses with the chaffinch, or either of the linnets make such good 

 songsters as with the present species ; at least, I have never found, or 

 known, them to be so. 



The Siskin {F. spinus). Like the last once more numerous than 

 now ; bird-catchers having greatly thinned their numbers too : still 

 we have a few. This is another very tameable bird. I have had 

 birds of this species that have played with me like so many children, 

 and seemed to enter into the spirit of the fun as well as I did myself, 

 and that they understand my every move is an undeniable fact. They 

 were kept in an open room, from which they might at any time have 

 escaped, if they had so wished, but they never sought to fly away. 



