THE LIVING WORLD. 
327 
cage bird, like the canary. Besides, in its natural state the bullfinch is rather 
an uninteresting bird, against which the charges have been laid of denuding 
fruit trees of their flowers, through no other than merely mischievous propen¬ 
sities. In domestication the bird is wonderfully interesting, and is the most 
highly prized of all feathered pets. Before taken into captivity its notes are 
only a simple chirrup, but in bondage it develops really marvellous powers of 
imitation, easily learning to whistle even complicated operatic airs, with a soft, 
flute-like melody. In order to develop this interesting faculty, the bird must be 
taken when young, and immediately after feeding be given its lessons, which 
consist in the playing on some soft instrument (the flageolet is preferable) the 
airs it is desired that the bird should learn. 
The bullfinch manifests a loving disposition towards some persons, and an 
inconceivably violent hatred towards others without any apparent reason. Many 
anecdotes are reported illustrative of both these qualities, one of which relates 
that a bullfinch actually died of love for its beautiful mistress who refused to 
return its affection. Such stories, however, are unreliable, and not worthy of 
insertion in a book of this character, 
usually in a thick hazel copse attached 
to the side of a slender branch, and 
deposits therein five eggs, beautifully 
marked with purple and brown streaks, 
and a ring of greenish white on the 
larger end. The bird, which is about 
six inches long, is of a slaty-gray on 
neck and back, while the head, cov¬ 
erts of tail and wing are black and 
tips of wing white. 
The Kernel-biter, or Grosbeak 
(Coccothraustes vulgaris ), belongs to a 
family of which our common red bird 
(Cardinalis Virginian us) , also called 
crested red bird and Virginia night¬ 
ingale, is a member. The former species, however, is a native of Europe, 
where it sometimes appears in flocks of twenty or more. It is a very shy 
bird, with dull plumage and monotonous notes. The name kernel-bird has 
been given on account of its habits of feeding, in which it is so voracious as 
to swallow the seeds of such fruit as cherries and plums. There are six 
different species, none of which are very interesting. 
The Chaffinch [Fringilla ccelebs ), or Bachelor Finch, is a distinctively 
English bird, and a merry little fellow he is, too. After the breeding _ season, 
the males and females separate by voluntary divorcement, and so remain until • 
the next mating time, on which account the name bachelor has been applied. 4 
His merry notes and pinck, pinck , do not serve to establish him in the 
favor of gardeners, upon whose crops he makes serious invasions, being as 
bold in his thievery as is the sparrow. The nest which this, bird con¬ 
structs is a marvel of neatness and ingenuity, being composed of moss, wool 
and hair admirably interwoven and lodged in the main fork of a tree, where 
it is most difficult to detect, being of the colors of its surroundings, so as to 
form an almost perfect simulation to the tree branches. 
This bird, in freedom, builds its nest 
snow finch (Pledrophanes nivalis) and gold¬ 
finch (Emberizi citrinella ). 
