HAWFINCH. 
I visited the garden at the Manor House at Portslade, and examined the peas to ascertain if there were 
any Hawfinches in that locality. I discovered that nearly every pod was destroyed, but the peas were extracted 
in a different manner, and there were no signs of the broad cuts inflicted by Hawfinches, which reveal the 
shape of their beaks. The gardener informed me that Sparrows had caused the damage in this instance, 
and after watching for an hour I was convinced that his opinion was correct. 
On the 9th of June, 1875, drove over to Plumpton to take a brood of young Hawfinches from the same 
garden where the birds had been shot in 1872. I happened to be a day too late, five youngsters having been 
seen by the gardener and keeper in the nest in the early morning, but only three remaining when I reached 
the spot during the afternoon. These were immediately secured, a landing-net being dropped over the nest, 
and the pair of old birds were soon obtained while flying round the garden with their mouths crammed full of 
food for their young ; what they had collected was composed of a large mass of caterpillars and chrysalises of 
various kinds. The nest was in the same pear-tree in which the birds had placed their cradle three years 
previously, and the three young, which wc kept and reared, turned out to he all males. The colours of 
the soft parts of these juveniles were as follows: — Upper and lower mandibles dull olive-yellow, gape yellow ; 
inside of mouth and tongue a very bright flame-coloured red, shaded here and there with a pale sky-blue and 
streaked with a beautiful cerise tint. A few lines referring to the three young birds taken from the nest on 
the 9th of June, 1875, may not be out of place. For a week or two they all required to be fed, but shortly 
after commenced to help themselves to whatever was provided. As previously stated, they all proved to be 
males, the two that had left the nest being in all probability females. As they had evinced a disposition to 
snap at one another, we concluded that a bite from their powerful beaks might be attended with serious results, 
and consequently kept them separate in three large wire cages, placed side by side, but so that each occupant 
was just out of the reach of his next-door neighbour’s spiteful mandibles. Within a year one of these youngsters 
was found dead at the bottom of his cage, and, on an examination being made, it was discovered that the skull 
had been pierced by a broken wire, pointing downwards from the top of the cage, which must have caused 
instant death. The two that remained went through the regular changes in the colouring of the beak every 
year ; all through the latter part of autumn and early winter the mandibles were a dirty flesh-tint. The change 
commences towards the end of January, a livid blue gradually showing near the base and the points becoming 
slightly darker. I find one note entered on the 15th of February, 1883, stating, “beak now quite blue;” 
again, on March the 6th the same year, “ beak now blue with black points.” During the whole time they 
remained in captivity the changes took place at much the same dates; the eyes never varied, the tint of the 
iris corresponding precisely with the colour of the grey band of plumage round the neck. The seed-tins of the 
birds were always filled with hemp ; but they also received a continuous supply of every description of vegetables, 
with apples, nuts, hips and haws, and all the plants employed in the composition of salads, scarcely anything 
eatable coming amiss to them. The long time they lived may, I think, be accounted for by the changes of 
diet they enjoyed ; their excitement (snapping, pecking, and rating at one another) when their dainties were 
being produced was most amusing. They frequently indulged in vocal performances; some persons might 
possibly have termed it singing, but the sounds emitted were exceedingly discordant, resembling the squeaking 
of an ungreased cart-wheel produced with variations. While giving utterance to their quaint melody they 
occasionally became much excited and danced or hopped on their perches from one side of their cages to the 
other in a most extraordinary manner; their actions ought to have been seen to be thoroughly understood, 
as to accurately describe the antics the infatuated birds went through is utterly impossible. Though 
previously perfectly healthy, one commenced, in May 1883, to exhibit signs of weakness in his right foot; the 
toes all contracted and remained closed, the poor creature appearing much crippled for some months. At length, 
however, he recovered the use of his disabled limb and was much the same as ever for a time. The following 
3 eo.r he suilered from a second attack, and in the summer of 1885 grew graduallv weaker, and becoming still 
