24 BRITISH NESTING BIRDS 



British Birds: " Feathers of the throat elongated, black; head 

 and neck dusky; eyes with a bare red skin above and a white 

 spot below ; wings brown speckled with black ; breast lustrous 

 green ; belly black with white spots ; rump and flanks marked 

 with undulating lines of black and ash colour; tail black with 

 white spots ; beak horn white. Female: A third smaller, barred 

 and spotted with tawny-red, black and white; throat tawny- 

 red ; breast deep red ; tail dark red with black bars, white at the 

 tip." Length. — From thirty-three to thirty-six inches. 



CHAFFINCH (Fringilla cczlebs) 



Local Names. — Beech Finch, Boldie, Buck Finch, Chaffy, Charbob, 

 Copper Finch, Dad Finch, Horse Finch, Horse-dung Finch, Pie 

 Finch, Piet Lintie, Pink, Pink Pink, Scobly Buck Finch, Shilfa. 

 Skclly, Spink, Spinx, Tink, Twinck, Wetbird, Whit Finch, 

 White Finch, White Wing. 



Haunt. — Woods, copses, lanes, fields, hedgerows, and gardens. 



Nesting Period. — April to June. 



Site of Nest. — Bushes, hedgerows, between the limbs of a tree, etc. 



Materials Used. — Moss, wool, hair, feathers, lichen, and roots. A 

 most beautiful nest, small, compact, and symmetrical. 



Eggs. — Four to Six. Ash-grey or blue-grey, with a wine-coloured 

 tinge, spotted with dark brown and black. 



Food. — Insects and their larvae in Spring and Summer; seeds and 

 beech-mast in Autumn and Winter. 



Voice. — Alarm or call-note a shrill "pink, pink," uttered by both 

 male and female. The latter also utters a weeping note. 

 Male bird has a shrill, high-pitched song with a pleasing 

 cadenza. Song rivalry in the Spring is very noticeable. 



Chief Features. — The specific name of ccelebs indicates a bachelor, 

 the males and females separating into distinct flocks in Winter. 

 Male bird is one of the most handsome of our native Finches. 

 An active, engaging bird at all times. 



Plumage. — Black forehead; greyish-blue crown and nape; chestnut 

 back and scapulars with a green tinge ; green rump ; chestnut- 

 red breast, which fades into white on the belly; black wings, 

 with two bands of white; coverts of secondaries edged with 

 yellow; black tail, the two central feathers ashy-grey, the two 

 outer, on either side, black, with a white band of a broad and 

 oblique character. The female is not clothed in such brilliant 

 hues: the colours arc duller, the colouring generally being ashy- 

 grey and olive-yellow, and the white bars are not so pure as 

 those of the male bird. Length. — Six inches. 



