CHAFFINCH. 59 



ChaflBnch. Frmgilla ccelebs Linn. 



The familiar Chaffinch (Plate 25) is evenly distributed 

 throughout the British Isles ; to the few Scottish islands where 

 it is not resident it comes as a migrant. In hilly country it is 

 more plentiful than the House-Sparrow, and though by no 

 means shunning thickly populated districts is equally abundant 

 in woods and open country. It is a European and western 

 Asiatic bird, some winter in northern Africa, but many reach 

 us in autumn and remain as winter visitors. Our own birds 

 flock in winter and become nomadic ; there is also a marked 

 passage migration both inland and along the coasts. Birds 

 arrive on the east coast early in October, but on the west 

 coast the movements are most marked from the middle to the 

 end of the month. Seebohm says that the Chaffinch travels at 

 night, but I have seen large numbers passing by day both 

 inland and along the shores in Lancashire, Cheshire and 

 North Wales. During severe weather in winter there are 

 westward movements towards Ireland. Return migration 

 begins in March and flocks pass throughout April, long after 

 the residents have begun nesting. Linnaeus gave the bird the 

 name ccelebs because he thought the hens migrated and left 

 the cocks behind, but though flocks in which one sex pre- 

 dominates are not uncommon, the sexes often mingle in winter 

 where food is plentiful. One observer assures me that the 

 males pass along the coast fully a week before the females. 



The cheery " pink, pink," of the Chaffinch, from which it gets 

 one local name, " Spink," is uttered at all seasons and by both 

 sexes, but in spring the male has a louder clearer love-call, and 

 also a double note, " tchissik." The rollicking song, often 

 begun in February, is a rattle with an exuberant ending, which, 

 however, varies, not in diiferent localities, but individually. 

 John Burroughs, who was amazed at the number of Chaffinches 



