HAWFINCH 
105 
Linnet's eggs and nest are so distinctly smaller that 
they ought not to be confused with them. It is 
not uncommon to find nests with eggs as late as 
July. The song of the Greenfinch is rather dull 
and indistinct ; its most conspicuous note is a 
grating, dropping drawl, which the cock grinds out 
time after time, as he sits on some perch near the 
top of a bush or hedge, with an air as if he did 
not think very much of it as music, but had nothing 
better to do. 
HAWFINCH. 
{Coccothraustes vulgaris!) 
Cherry Finch. — In this striking-looking bird the 
stout beak and burly build of the Finches has 
reached its highest development, and there is no 
fear of mistaking the Hawfinch for any other 
British species. The beak is enormous in thick- 
ness, and the whole head, neck and fore-part of the 
body is huge in proportion. In actual size the 
Hawfinch is about as large as a Corn Bunting, or 
half-way, say, between a Hedge-sparrow and a 
Thrush. It is striking in plumage, as well as in 
shape, the cock being conspicuously variegated, on 
breast and back, with warm reddish and yellowish- 
browns, while the wings and tail are banded with 
black and white, and there is a conspicuous black 
