the song of the cock, begun rather late in spring, and prolonged
beyond midsummer, has that in it which harmonizes
with the sultry season when it is most often heard, for the
full vernal chorus of the grove overpowers the droning trill
that afterwards becomes an acceptable though monotonous
strain. This, however, he is not soon tired of uttering, and
perched in a tree-top will reiterate it almost without variation,
for half an hour together. At times indeed, he will launch
forth into the air, and, after beating about vaguely for some
space, will, with outstretched wings and tail, soar in a semicircle
to another like station, singing the while ; but such a
feat is chiefly if not solely performed in the early days of
courtship, and as the summer draws on, he seldom indulges
in this graceful flight, but as rather becomes his portly figure
remains stolidly seated while he trolls his lay. In confinement,
the Greenfinch imitates the song of any fellow-captives,
and without many qualities to recommend it as a cage-bird,
soon-becomes tame and reconciled to its prison.
I have been favoured by a lady with an interesting account
of a young bird of this species which flew on her shoulder
whilst walking, and became in a few days very familiar, not to
say, affectionate and playful. It lived for about five months
in a state of semi-voluntary captivity, but on the return of
its mistress from an absence abroad, it appeared to have forgotten
her, though it had before displayed unequivocal marks
of attachment to her, and seems then to have met the sad
fate that in one form or another is the usual lot of all pets
on the first temporary and even unintentional discontinuance
of special care for their safety.
It is rather a late breeder; not beginning to build till
towards the end of April or early in May. The nest is placed in
low bushes or hedges, and sometimes in trees, and composed
on the outside, of coarse fibrous roots, interwoven with wool
and green moss, and is lined with finer roots, horsehair and
a few feathers but for that of a Finch the structure wants
neatness, if it may not be called clumsy. The eggs are from
four to six in number, white or pale french-white, blotched,
spotted and speckled chiefly near the larger end with dark
reddish-brown and purplish-grey; the markings being often
disposed in a zone: they vary much in shape, being often
greatly elongated, and measure from '97 to ‘68 by from
•57 to -53 in. ,
The young are fed from the first entirely upon soft seeds,
and by thus destroying countless weeds this species does
good service to the gardener and farmer. As the season advances
the broods support themselves in company with their
parents on vegetable diet—not always of a harmless kind.
Later still they unite in flocks, and consorting with Buntings
and other Finches, feed in corn-fields and stubble, till
the privations of winter drive them to the barn-door and
stack-yard. They generally roost in evergreen trees or
shrubs, constantlyreturning to the same spot, and, j j |§ § B
has remarked, before retiring for the night, they quit the
company of their associates and make many ringing flights
round their resting station-a habit however which is common
to several other kinds of birds. A partial separation
of the sexes is observable in winter though not to the same
extent as in the Chaffinch* A considerable immigration
to the Eastern Counties takes place every autumn, bu
whether the strangers are of foreign extraction, or bred m
the northern parts of this island is unknown.
The Greenfinch is plentiful in all such cultivated parts of
Great Britain and Ireland as are adjacent to gardens and
small woods. Of late years it has been found m several of
the Hebrides, where it was said not formerly to exis , an i
may possibly occur in most of them. It is a winter-visitant
to Orkney, and though until recently exceedingly scarce m
Shetland has now earned the same character m that group
of islands. It has likewise appeared several times m win ei
in the Faroes, but only since the year 1865. In Norway i
breeds so far as Nordland I and, though m most districts a
summer-visitant, large flocks are said to winter m the
* Neville Wood (Brit. Song Birds, p. 887) states that | f c g |
though he cannot say always, contains birds of the same sex ^ ^
is the case with a few other species of the family. This assertion howeve