44 Thk Greenfinch 



chiefly haunts the borders of woods, parks, plantations, shrubberies, gardens, and 

 dense hedgerows ; but in the winter it may often be seen feeding in compau}- with 

 Sparrows, Chaffinches, and Buntings, in stubble-fields, farms, and gardens. Except- 

 ing when feeding its young, the song may frequently be heard ; it is alwaj's bright 

 and clear, and some individuals sing remarkably well, reminding one somewhat of 

 a Norwich Canary ; only, unfortunately the song is always interrupted at the end 

 of a phrase or two by a harsh zshwee>-, and terminated with the same disagreeable 

 note. The call-note is a sound like tirri, or a shrill sharp chirp, somewhat resemb- 

 ling the chink of the Chaffinch ; the call of deiiance is the same as the harsh note 

 introduced into its song ; the call of the young for food resembles that of many 

 Finches — chiwi or chirri. 



The nest is very frequently placed in hawthorn hedges ; indeed I once found 

 three nests of this bird within a distance of two yards, two of them being only a 

 foot apart, and all three at a height of about five feet from the ground ; it is also 

 commonly placed in clumps of tall furze-bushes ; I have also found it in laurus- 

 tinus bushes, in ivy on walls, in the forks of low trees, chiefly yews and spruce-firs, 

 and a friend found me a nest among the twigs sprouting from the stump of a 

 branch, cut from a tall oak (about eight feet from the ground) this being placed 

 at a greater elevation than any other nest of the species whicli I have met with; 

 Seebohm, however, speaks of the Greenfinch sometimes selecting a site "fift}- feet 

 or more from the ground, in a fork of an elm, or even in a cavity in the trunk." 



The nest varies considerably, the thickness of the walls being from one to 

 two inches, and usually very firmly, though occasionally' loosely constructed ; the 

 depth of some nests is also double that of others ; as regards materials I 

 cannot do better than quote my own descriptions of eight selected nests from my 

 "Handbook of British Oology"; — "i. — An outer framework of rough twigs and 

 coarse roots, the walls of fine roots and green moss, and the lining of fine reddish 

 fibrous roots. 2. — Of coarse, half-decayed straws, bents, and roots, thickly lined 

 with fine root-fibre. 3. — Of slender withered grass-straws, and a mass of 

 greyish wool, felted together, and lined with a few black horse-hairs. 4. — 

 Of sticks, roots, and moss externally ; of wool, vegetable fibre, and less moss, 

 inwardly, lined with a few black horse-hairs. 5. — Of coarse plaited roots 

 externally ; of finer roots, moss, slender white hairs, and a little wool, matted 

 together inwardly, and lined with a few black horse-hairs. 6. — Of green moss, 

 with a few twigs and roots, and thickly lined with cocoanut fibre and a few black 

 hairs. 7.- — Loosely constructed of green moss and spiders' webs, with a few twigs; 

 lined with vegetable fibre, and a few black hairs. 8. — Of twice the usual depth, 

 (like a nest within a nest) formed of green moss, wool, and fibrous roots, in patches, 



