FRINGILLIDAE—FINCHES. 115
the forest, feeding on the hornbeam seeds, but they are extremely shy and difficult
to procure." In July following he writes, " I have brought up some young ones
this summer, and have just sent three to our friend Thomas Allis " (of York),
In the next letter (August 24th) he adds :
" I have no doubt I can get some more Hawfinches for thee. Mine is
still alive and well. The nest is so loose that it can hardly be moved with-
out falling to pieces—in fact it is the clumsiest nest I am acquainted with.
It has been found in Kent, but rarely, as Mr. Yarrell had not a British speci-
men of its egg until I gave him one about a month ago."
On Dec. 2nd, 1837, he writes (10): "I do not know what will become of
the Hawfinches this winter, as there is an entire failure of their favourite
food, the seed of the hornbeam. I do not think there is a seed all through
the forest, and last winter every tree was loaded. It may quite drive them
away." In June, 1839, he observes (10) that the bird " seems to have dimin-
ished in our neighbourhood," and again on Jan. 15th, 1840, he writes (10) :
" We have very few Hawfinches, which I think is owing to the entire absence
of seed on the hornbeams, the cold spring having, I suppose, cut off the
blossoms, and they certainly live principally on the seed of this tree." Else-
where (23. 40), about the same time he wrote as follows:—
" In the winter of 1835 and spring of 1836, they were extremely common
in the forest, associating in large flocks, and feeding upon the seeds of the
hornbeam, which were very abundant. In the spring of 1837 I saw fewer
birds, and the seed was not abundant—I mean the crop of 1836. The springs
of 1837-38-39-40 were cold and frosty when the hornbeam was in flower, and
I believe not a seed was to be seen through the whole forest. During this
time I scarcely saw any Hawfinches—only a single bird now and then in
gardens, &c. The spring of 1841 was fine and warm, and there was an im-
mense quantity of seed upon the hornbeams in the summer. As I expected,
during the autumn of that year, and the spring of 1842, hundreds of Hawfinches
were to be seen wherever there was seed, and I saw many nests in the sum-
mer. Now, again, there is little or no seed and not a Hawfinch is to be met with
in the forest, and I have seen only one or two solitary individuals during the
winter. What becomes of them all? Do they disperse over the country, or do
they leave us altogether ? They will feed on the kernels of haws, yew-berries,
laurel, and plum-stones, &c, but decidedly prefer the seed of the hornbeam to
anything else. In the summer they are very destructive to green peas. They
become very tame in confinement, though extremely wild in a state of nature."
In 1856, he writes (23. 5098) that "it used to breed in great numbers in
our forest, but has become comparatively rare within the last three or four years."
Doubleday believed (34. 1133) that in some years their numbers in Epping
Forest were increased by arrivals from the continent, as in the winter of 1865-
66, when there was much seed on the hornbeams, and large flocks were scat-
tered all over the forest. Writing from Epping in 1835, Edward Doubleday
says (15):
" This interesting bird is very common here, though rarely to be seen, save
by a practised ornithologist, from its shyness. In the winter it visits our gardens
to feed on the fallen stones of plums, bullaces, or laurel, which it dexterously
cracks with its powerful bill. Sometimes it may be found in small companies
of ten or fifteen, feeding on the fallen seeds of the hornbeams. It generally
builds in a tall whitethorn or holly. The nest is sometimes as loose as a Ring-
dove's, but at other [times the bird] bestows rather more pains upon it. It lays
from five to six eggs. When the young are fledged they visit the gardens near
the forest in search of green peas. I have been told that last year nearly, if not
quite, thirty were killed in the garden of Colonel Conyers, of Copt Hall, whose
park I believe to be a favourite breeding-place of this bird,"
Mr. English stated (44. ii. iv.) in 1881 that in Epping Forest "he had seen