438 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



sin is their terrible destruction of young buds of fruit trees — plums and 

 cherries, red currants and gooseberries — and there is no redeeming point 

 in this destruction, for they do not do it to get insects. Mr. F. V. 

 Theobald told me recently that he had examined the stomachs of 

 150 bullfinches, in search for insects they had consumed, without finding 

 any. They are attractive cage-birds, although their piping song is not as 

 beautiful as the song of many birds, but they are clever imitators. 



The bullfinch commences to nest early in the month of May, often 

 choosing a box or yew tree. It lays from four to six eggs, and allows 



Fig. 70. — Two Plum Trees, about twenty years old, in Mr. A. D. Hall's Garden 

 (Harpenden, Herts), with Buds entirely destroyed by Birds, May 25, 190(5. 



It will be noted that whilst other trees and plants are in full leaf, these plum 

 trees are almost leafless, owing to the buds during winter having. been eaten out by 

 bullfinches and sparrows. 



close approach when upon its nest. Yarrell says that there is little doubt 

 that the prevalence of this bird in England, like the nightingale, is due 

 to game-preservers, who during the critical period of breeding so jealously 

 protect its woodland retreats from disturbance. The young continue to 

 associate with their parents through autumn and winter until the following 

 spring ; and so constant is the attachment of these birds to one another 

 that they are believed to pair for life. 



Yarrell further says that countless dissections have proved that the 

 remains of insects are so rarely found in the crop or stomach that their 



