From The Zoologist, 1896
Nesting of the Hawfinch in Lincolnshire
I think it possible that readers of The Zoologist may be interested to know that a nest of the Hawfinch has been found in the park at Lea Hall, near Gainsborough.
It is placed rather more than half-way up a large old hawthorn and made of small black twigs with a sort of cup in the middle.
Our butler discovered the nest accidentally by finding two young nestlings below the tree on the ground.
He put them in a small wire-cage and tied it half-way up against the trunk. He has since seen the old birds come and feed the caged young ones.
The latter are almost fully fledged and have the black and white wing-feathers very strongly marked.
Their large beaks are still (June 13th) quite soft.
They sit solemnly side by side on the perch in the cage, and look very funny with small tufts of down sprouting from among the head feathers.
They allow visitors to approach quite closely without moving, or appearing in the least alarmed. It has been stated that the Hawfinch has increased and spread enormously of late years, and that the discovery of its nest in Lincolnshire "is probably only a matter of time."
It has been sought for here for many years, but never until now with success.
There are every summer several pairs of Hawfinches about the garden, feeding on the peas.
In the autumns of 1879 and 1880, I often saw these birds feeding on the yew berries and pecking about on the gravel beneath the yew tree in a garden on the banks of the Trent.
Mrs. Anderson
Lea Hall
Gainsborough
Lincolnshire
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