Lowia pyrrhula, Linn. Faun. Suec. p. 81.

Fringilla pyrrhula, Temm. Man. d’Orn., (1815) p. 200.

Pyrrhula europea, Leach, Syst. Cat. of Indig. Mamm. & Birds in Brit. Mus 1g
rubicilla, Pall. Zoog. Ross.-Asiat., tom. xi. pee 58 | ool

—— vulgaris, Temm. Man. d’Orn., 2d edit. tom. i. p. 338.

——— rufa, Koch, Baier. Zool., tom. i. p. 227.

—_— pileata, Macgill. Hist. Brit. Birds, vol. i. p. 407.

 

Berore writing a history of our own Bullfinch, it may not be uninteresting to give a short summary of the
known Embers of the a emanably well-defined genus Pyrrhula, an old-world form, the various species of
which enjoy a range of habitat extending from the British Islands through Asia to Japan. None have
et been discovered in America; and North Africa would seem to be equally unsuited to these birds,
since our own yell: known species is the only one that has been found therein. The great Himalayan
range of mountains appears to be their headquarters; and, so far as I am aware, none occur in the
southern parts of India, the Malay peninsula, or in any of the islands to the southward. It is therefore
strictly a northern genus. On the continent of Europe there are two species, Pyrrhula vulgaris
and P. coccinea; P. murina inhabits the Azores; P. nipalensis Nepaul, Sikhim, and Bootan; P.
erythaca the mountains bordering Nepaul and Sikhim; P. erythrocephala the Western Himalayas; P.
aurantia Cashmere; and P. orientalis Japan. Our favourite Bullfinch is so generally diciuhinie.
over England that it would be useless to particularize any one county in which it may be found more
than another: at the same time, it is not alike plentiful in every district ; for there are localities in which it
is seldom seen, while it is abundant in others. In Scotland and in Ireland it is less generally distributed. It
may be described as a woodland bird, affecting more especially those parts in which the larch is the prevailing
tree. Itis, however, found in the hedgerows and plantations, both of lowland and hilly districts, and at certain
seasons of the year, as every horticulturist knows, visits the gardens, and commits depredations on fruit-trees
to an extent unequalled by any other of our native birds. This trait in its character has very justly obtained it
many enemies ; for to allow such havoc to go on unchecked would be beyond the patience of mortals whose
gardens are their joy, and whose fruit-trees are part of their existence. On examination, however, of the form
and structure of its scoop-like bill we become at once aware that it is“ Bully’s ” nature so to feed, and that its

attacks upon the flower-buds of trees are in strict accordance with nature’s intentions—as it is for the Haw-

finch to split open the hard seeds of the whitethorn, the cherry, and the laurel, to obtain the kernels within,
Throughout this work I have been a champion for our poor per
could in words, on account of the great amount of good they effect ;
of the destructive propensities of many of them. Mr. Smither, of Churt, informs me that two or three
an entire fruit-tree of its buds with such rapidity that in a few hours the ground
beneath will be entirely covered with their outer coverings. It has been said that the buds are removed in
order that the bird may secure the insect-larvee supposed to be within them. But while the buds of
cherries, blackthorn, and larch, and the seeds of heath, are constantly found in their crops, Mr. Selby, who
dissected dozens of these birds, never found any remains of larvee in their crops or
gillivray states that the only substances he detected therein were small seeds of various kinds, and

particles of quartz. Of the individuals examined, some were shot in February and April; but as the

species was not common in any place where he had resided in spring,
destroying buds and flowers the bird was searching for insects or fee
to give such a character to so fine a bird as the Bullfinch, or to be the cause of a single hand being raised
th must be told ; and that he is a sadly destructive little fellow there

secuted birds, and defended them as well as I

at the same time I am not unmindful

Buallfinches will strip

stomachs ; and Mac-

he was unable to ascertain whether in

ding on those substances. I am sorry

against one so interesting ; but the tru

is no doubt. |
Speaking of the Bullfpch in Ireland, Mr. Thomson says, “Jn some picturesque and extensive glens

: : ea ce ; no é azel and holly of natural
in the county of Antrim, near Belfast, the bird was common so long as the hazel < nd y aturé
but as these were swept away, it deserted such localities as abodes, and

growth maintained their ground ;
In the ne

‘few and far between’ are even its temporary visits.
ations, where the hazel predominates,

> the Bullfinch looks eminently beautiful, and can
s so destructive b

ighbouring county of Down it finds a
this shrubby tree commonly builds.

and in
be admired without the alloy

home in sequestered situ

In ‘Nature’s wild domain

‘e it prove - eating the buds of the
the garden or the orchard, where it prove y eating

associated with it in