GKREENFINCH. 
95 
end of a gravel path, where they entered a clump of fir 
trees. In what manner the parents supported the nestling 
w^s not very apparent, as the observers did not like to 
follow too quickly, lest the old birds should relinquish their 
burden; but from the close vicinity of the three during their 
flight, it appeared as if they must have upheld it by means 
of their beaks. The other nestlings had apparently been 
conveyed away in the same manner, as none of them were 
to be found.’ I remember myself several years ago going a 
mile at night to release some young Greenfinches from a 
cage in which I had seen the old birds feeding them the day 
before. 
Their flight is quick, strong, and undulated, performed by 
two or three rapid flaps of the wings, which are then closed, 
and a sweep follows, down, and then up. They sometimes 
wheel about for some little time before alighting, but often 
settle down abruptly, and set to work in search of food. If 
alarmed, they fly up to the highest parts of any trees that 
may be near, from whence they drop again, when the danger 
appears to be removed. 
Their food consists of wheat, barley, and other grain, and 
seeds, those of the hawthorn occasionally, and green weeds, 
such as the turnip, charlock, dandelion, groundsel, and chick- 
weed; and in the spring the buds of trees are picked off, 
and the larvse of different insects also consumed; all these, 
as well as insects themselves, form their ‘bill of fare:’ with 
the latter the young are fed. Various mineral substances 
are swallowed to assist the process of digestion. The husks 
of corn are ground off before being swallowed. 
Their note, which Meyer likens to the word ‘tway,’ is 
tolerably full and mellow, and is uttered in the summer 
from the topmost spray of a hedge, or some tree a little 
higher than others, as well as on the wing; but there is not 
any approach to a song until the spring, generally about the 
middle of April, but earlier or later according to the season, 
and only to a trifling extent even then; but they are able to 
learn the notes of other birds. 
Nidification begins generally in April, or even earlier: the 
work has been known to have been completed by the 26th. 
of March. 
The nest is pretty well compacted, and much more so in 
some instances than in others. It is composed of small 
roots, twigs, moss, and straws, and lined with finer materials 
