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The Hawfinch.
(Coccothraustes vulgaris.)
The Hawfinch, the largest of our British Finches, frequents forests and woods of oaks, beeches, hawthorns, pines etc., and sometimes gardens and orchards. It has a preference for seeds such as those of the Hornbeam, the shells of which are too thick and strong to be broken by its smaller cousins. It is not the flesh of the haw or seed that is eaten, however, but the kernels, all the rest being thrown away. In order to deal with the tough hard shells, the Hawfinch has a large and rather clumsy but powerful beak. Inside the forepart of this beak are two horny plates, one above and one beneath, between which the seeds are pressed and neatly cracked.