Some British 
Finches. 
(no) THE BIRD WORLD. 
Soirve British Firvches. 
With Observations Thereon. 
By J. S. CRAWFORD. 
Of our many classified British birds 
the members of the Finch family are 
perhaps the most beautiful, and it is 
with these beautiful feathered friends I 
purpose dealing, in this short, But I 
trust not uninteresting, article. There is 
no doubt much that has already been 
written, and many splendid plates 
published of these, as well as many 
others of our feathered tribes, to which 
Cage Birds and the Bird World 
have added their share of these 
splendid bird plates, through the pages 
of these very interesting journals, and 
which, of course, all go to familiarise 
strangers with the originals. There are 
many who know these Finches only as 
prisoners behind cage bars, being one 
and all very suitable cage birds, but my 
object in this article will be to deal with 
this family in their wild state, among 
their native haunts, where these Finches 
are likely to be found, their nests, eggs, 
and notes. First in my notebook comes 
the:— 
Bullfinch (Pyrrhula Europaea). 
This bird has indeed a bullish ap¬ 
pearance, with his thick-set head covered 
with a cap of deep black, and it is no 
doubt owing to his prominent head that 
Bully ” derives the prefix to his name. 
For the benefit of those not quite familiar 
with the Bullfinch, it may be advan¬ 
tageous to describe him, and also the 
other members of this interesting group 
dealt with, so I will insert a description 
of each Finch as I go along. 
The cock Bullfinch, as already noted, 
has a deep black head covering, this 
colour coming well below the eye, the 
crown is somewhat flattish, and the bill 
is a little hawk-like. He has a deep red 
breast, with shoulders and back bluish- 
ash, belly and rump being white, legs 
dusky brown and claws black. The hen 
Bullfinch is more soberly clad than her 
mate, the breast and back being dullish 
brown in colour. 
The Bullfinch inhabits well-wooded 
districts as a rule. The Bullfinch, like 
the Robin and Tits, retreats from our 
gardens and orchards further afield in 
the spring, and during the summer 
months he is found feeding on insects, 
and also berries of various kinds. When 
winter again comes round he draws 
nearer the habitation of man, and his 
diet then consists of hips and haws, 
groundsel, dock seeds, and the Bullfinch 
will sometimes visit our bird tables in 
hard weather, but his visits are rare. 
A Slovenly Builder. 
For such a handsome and tidy fellow 
the Bullfinch is somewhat of a slovenly 
nest builder, and not an early one at that, 
as May is usually ushered in before the 
home of the Bullfinch is found, although 
an occasional nest may be taken in 
April. His nest is constructed of twigs 
and rootlets woven together, the former 
usually being placed at the base of the 
structure, and is lined- with hair, 
feathers and wool, and is ofttimes placed 
in a high hedge some distance from the 
ground, though more often in a fir or 
other tree. Five is the usual number of 
eggs laid, and these are of a ground- 
coloured greenish-blue, spotted and 
streaked with dark purple brown marks, 
and mostly towards the larger end, but 
I have seen these fairly well distributed 
over the egg in some cases. 
Musical Bowers not Great. 
Like his nest, his song is not of much 
account, being somewhat harsh in tone, 
but he has a plaintive call note. His 
powers of imitation, however, are 
