Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 5 (1901).djvu/496

466 only eat the kernels, they have an advantage, devouring what other birds discard. They are also better off than they used to be for nesting-sites, the large orchards in fruit-growing districts affording them ample shelter. A very large proportion of the nests I have found have been in apple-trees, which seems to have been the experience of others; and, as a rule, the nests are not far from the ground, and in their size vary to an unusual extent; some, even where I have known the exact spot, being exceedingly hard to see, on account of their being so lightly built; others are large bulky nests, which you can hardly help detecting at once when near the tree; but the orchards are large, and therefore this species has a good chance of rearing its young in safety. It is difficult to forecast how this will affect other species, but the Hawfinch is a pugnacious as well as a very strong bird, and if this rate of increase is maintained—as there is every reason to suppose it will be—then some other weaker species already struggling with the physical conditions of life is bound to suffer; but the result to farmers and fruit-growers is very apparent. At first sight it appears unlikely and almost incredible that a few Hawfinches could do much damage to a field of peas; but if anyone has any doubt on this point, let him watch the birds at work, and see how a family takes up its abode in a field, and how from early in the morning until late at night they are hard at work splitting up the pods; when I think even the most incredulous will be compelled to admit that at least a great deal of damage is done. It remains, however, to the unlucky persons who possess cherry-orchards, and look to them as a source of income, to suffer most from the depredations of this bird, although probably few of them are aware of the fact. For some time I looked upon Hawfinches as birds that did little harm during the mouth of May; as a rule, they appeared to me to feed entirely on the seeds of the oak at this time of year, but I discovered my mistake when looking for the nests. Having watched the birds for some time in and out of a cherry orchard on the borders of a forest between the hours of three and five in the morning. I concluded that they must be nesting in it; I therefore searched every tree, and, having failed to find any trace of a nest. I thought it best to wait and see for what reason the birds visited the orchard. This I did, with the result that before