HAWFINCH 
COCCO THRA US TES VULGARIS. 
The Hawfinch is said to be distributed over most of our English counties ; it is, however, with the exception 
of two or three flocks noticed in winter in the midland counties, only in Sussex that this species has come 
under my observation. I well remember a few at Catsfield, K infield, and Battle in Sussex, about thirty years 
ago ; though their nests were never detected, I came to the conclusion later on that they were residents in the 
district. 
I should be unwilling to state that this species can with certainty be attracted by a call-bird ; the following 
is, however, my experience on the subject. While at school at Harrow I noticed a fine old male in a store- 
cage in a bird-catcher’s cottage, and, after becoming the purchaser of the bird for a shilling, took it home when 
the holidays commenced. In a week I captured, in a clap-net, a couple of the Hawfinches previously observed 
in this part of Sussex. The first flew across my net when set on the lawn at Catsfield House, which my 
father then hired for several years, and the second settled down to the call-bird in a large grass-field just 
outside the well-timbered lawn at Catsfield Park, belonging to Sir Andrew Pilkington. There is little doubt 
that Hawfinches bred at both these places ; and their nests could not have escaped observation had the birds 
been carefully watched among the fruit-trees in the gardens, and the dense cover in the rough plantations 
adjoining been also thoroughly searched. 
On two occasions while staying in Brighton I went and examined the nests of this species, and the following 
extracts from my notes may possibly give a slight idea as to some of the habits of the birds. 
On the 24th of June, 1872, I started from Brighton soon after midnight and drove round by Lewes to 
Plumpton, where several pairs of Hawfinches were reported to have been inflicting a great deal of damage on 
the peas in a garden where I had liberty to obtain specimens. Our destination was reached by daybreak, 
and a few minutes later the old birds were observed feeding their young ; the whole party, however, proved 
exceedingly shy, and the garden being large and surrounded by high trees, it was no easy matter to obtain 
a shot. I was previously unacquainted with the call-note of this species, which, when once heard, is easily 
recognized again ; had it not been for their shrill whistle I should have had little chance ol procuring the biids , 
their approach was, however, invariably detected as they drew near by the sound before they appeared in sight- 
After remaining on the watch for eight or nine hours, I succeeded in obtaining the male, female, and three 
young ones, that had probably left the nest only a few days previously ; the juveniles proved to be of about the 
same size as the old birds and quite as wary. The nest in which they had been reared was placed in a pear-tree 
in the centre of the garden, and the gardener informed me that the birds had nested regularly m the same tree 
for the last six or seven years. These destructive finches had devoured or destroyed the whole of the peas 
that were fit for gathering, the pods being cut to pieces by their broad beaks, and the crop on seven rows 
utterly ruined. The gardener stated that during the previous season he had set some clams for A\ ood-Pigeons, 
baited with hard peas, and in two or three days half a dozen Hawfinches were captured. The following week 
