60 



BULLFINCH. 



and irregular, as to indicate its having been drawn from a damaged 

 specimen.* 1 



The eggs are four in number, of a bluish white, speckled, and streaked 

 with purple, rather larger than those of a linnet ; the young birds at first 

 resemble the female, but without the black on the head. This, as well 

 as the crimson on the breast of the male, does not appear till two months 

 after they leave the nest. 



The Bullfinch is gregarious ; seldom more than one brood is seen toge- 

 ther, and they are most commonly observed in pairs. It is not migratory, 

 but frequents our woods and thickets all the year ; in the spring it affects 

 the garden and orchards, where it is a most destructive enemy to buds 

 of fruit-trees. 



*" The Bullfinch," says Mr. Knapp, " is gifted with no voice to charm 

 us ; it communicates no harmony to the grove : all we hear from it is 

 a low and plaintive call to its fellows in the hedge. It has no familiarity 

 or association with us, but lives in retirement in some lonely thicket 

 ten months in the year. At length, as spring approaches, it will visit 

 our gardens, an insidious plunderer. Its delight is in the embryo blos- 

 soms wrapped up at this season in the bud of a tree ; and it is very 

 dainty and curious in its choice of this food, seldom feeding upon two 

 kinds at the same time. It generally commences with the germs of our 

 larger and most early gooseberry : and the bright red breasts of four or 

 five cock birds, quietly feeding on the leafless bush, are a very pretty 

 sight, but the consequences are ruinous to the crop. When the cherry 

 buds begin to come forward, they quit the gooseberry, and make tre- 

 mendous havoc with these. I have an early wall cherry, a mayduke 

 by reputation, that has for years been a great favourite with the bull- 

 finch family, and its celebrity seems to be communicated to each suc- 

 cessive generation. It buds profusely, but is annually so stripped 

 of its promise by these feathered rogues, that its kind might 

 almost be doubted. The Orleans and green -gage plums next form 

 a treat, and draw their attention from what remains of the cherry. 

 Having banquetted here awhile, they leave our gardens entirely, 

 resorting to the fields and hedges, where the sloe-bush in April 

 furnishes them with food. May brings other dainties and other avo- 

 cations." 



One of this species, shot by Captain Mitford, had the wings entirely 

 white, and in confinement it is not unusual for them to turn wholly 

 black, supposed to proceed from feeding it too much on hempseed. 



1 Nederlandsche Vogelen, ii. Deel. 



