60 BULLFINCH. 
and irregular, as to indicate its having- been drawn from a damaged 
specimen.* * 
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 fiuiit-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. 
^ Nederlandsche Vogelen, ii. Deel. 
