100 
HAWFINCH. 
visitant, the former in some parts of the country, the latter in 
others. It arrives in these cases at the beginning of winter, 
and is said to depart again in April. 
They seem to be extremely shy birds, but are capable of 
being kept in the cage. In winter they are found less timid, 
either subdued by the effects of hunger and cold, or as arrived 
from foreign parts where they have been less exposed to 
danger from man. They generally perch upon the highest 
branch of a tree, or upon some open bough, from whence they 
are able to keep a good look-out. 
They feed on the seeds, fruits, and berries of various trees— 
the hornbeam, plum, plane, pine, cherry, laurel, holly, and 
hawthorn, and do some damage among peas. With their strong 
beaks they make their way through the hardest shells. 
Their song is described as low, pleasant, and plaintive, and 
as being heard even in winter in fine weather. In confinement 
they have been known to learn the notes of other birds, and 
have been observed to make a grinding noise with their beaks, 
as is done by some of the Parrots. 
They pair about the middle of April, and in a week or 
two begin to build. 
I have been favoured by St. Aubin Molesworth St. Aubin, 
Esq., with the nest and egg of this bird, which were taken 
in the parish of Beenham, in the county of Berks.: it is 
entirely composed of lichens and fine roots. It is frequently 
placed in a thorn bush, or holly tree, as also in oaks, the 
horse chesnut, apple, and fir trees of the different species, at 
a height of twenty-five or thirty feet from the ground, often 
in a very exposed situation. It is variously made of small 
twigs, such as those of the oak and honeysuckle, intermixed 
with fragments of lichens, in greater or less abundance. The 
lining consists of fine roots, vegetable fibres, and a little hany 
with feathers, according to Montagu. It is not firmly com¬ 
pacted, towards which effect perhaps the principal material 
contributes. 
The eggs are from four to six in number, of a pale olive 
green, spotted with blackish brown, and irregularly streaked 
with dusky grey; some are much less marked than others, and 
some are of a uniform pale green. 
The young are hatched about the third week in May, and 
as soon as they are able to provide for themselves, says Mr. 
Doubleday, they unite with the old birds in flocks, varying 
in numbers from fifteen or twenty to one hundred or even 
