. Notes on the birds of Northamptonshire and neighbourhood . e date last named some of thesebirds have nested regularly about our pleasure-grounds, and have become only too well known toour gardeners and cottagers from their constant andserious depredations amongst the green peas andother vegetables. Several young Hawfinches takenfrom the nest have been brought to me during thelast few years, and in 1880 a pair were brought toLilford alive from a nest not far from the house ;this nest was built in a young oak tree close to a 186 THE BIRDS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE footpath in a large wood, and withi
. Notes on the birds of Northamptonshire and neighbourhood . e date last named some of thesebirds have nested regularly about our pleasure-grounds, and have become only too well known toour gardeners and cottagers from their constant andserious depredations amongst the green peas andother vegetables. Several young Hawfinches takenfrom the nest have been brought to me during thelast few years, and in 1880 a pair were brought toLilford alive from a nest not far from the house ;this nest was built in a young oak tree close to a 186 THE BIRDS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE footpath in a large wood, and within ten days afterthe taking of the young Hawfinches was occupied bya Wood-Pigeon, who added a few twigs to the nest,and thereupon hatched and reared two young. Ihave been informed of the nesting of Hawfinches atDeene, Weldon, Bulwick, and near Northampton, sothat we may now reckon this species as a regularresident in our county. The Hawfinch is a very shyand wary bird, by no means easy to approach, but incaptivity becomes very familiar, and though its vocal. I£ capabilities are not remarkable, is amusing from itsgrotesque manners and attitudes. In the wintermonths the food of this species consists of beech-mast, the seeds of the hornbeam, and the kernels ofhaws and other berries. I have often noticed thatthe Hawfinch rejects the flesh or pulp of fruit, andappears to care only for the seed or kernels, for AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. 187 obtaining which objects its powerful beak is mostadmirably adapted. When not engaged in seekingfor food these birds generally select the highestbranches of some tall tree, whence their peculiarsharp call-note may often be heard, and whence, onthe slightest alarm, they dart off with a very swiftundulating flight to some other safe look-out nests of this bird which have come under myobservation have all been placed at some height,fifteen to thirty feet, from the ground, for the mostpart in hawthorns or oaks ; but evergreens of variousk
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1895
