Among the Finches there is a considerable variety of coloration, though but little in bodily form; they are all attractive birds, and have the additional advantage that many are British. Distributed over both the northern and temperate regions of the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, they are unknown in Australia. The group, which comprises a very large number of species, may be divided into three sections—Grosbeaks, True Finches, and Buntings.
The Grosbeaks, as their name implies, are characterised by the great stoutness of the beak, and some, as the Evening-grosbeaks of America, are remarkable for their beauty.
Photo by W. F. Piggott] [Leighton Buzzard.
HAWFINCH.
A resident in the eastern and midland counties of England.
Well-known British members of this section are the Hawfinches and Greenfinches. Common in many parts of England, though rare in Scotland and Ireland, the Hawfinch contrives to make itself much disliked by the gardener, owing to its fondness for peas, though it fully compensates for the damage done in this direction by the numbers of noxious insects it destroys. The nest is a very beautiful structure; outside it is composed of twigs intermixed with lichens, inside of dry grasses lined with fine roots and hair. The site chosen varies, a favourite place being an old apple- or pear-tree in an orchard; but the woods and fir plantations are not seldom resorted to. The Greenfinch is an equally common British bird. Of a more confiding disposition than the hawfinch, it makes an excellent cage-bird, becoming with judicious treatment exceedingly tame. It is a useful bird, travelling during the autumn and winter in large flocks, and feeding on the seeds of wild mustard and other weeds. Its nest differs conspicuously from that of the hawfinch, being a somewhat untidy structure, composed of fibrous roots, moss, and wool, lined with finer roots, horsehair, and feathers.
Photo by C. Reid] [Wishaw, N.B.
YOUNG CHAFFINCHES.