98 Thk Chafiixcii 



wooded or cultivated districts, aud in solitary bushes on the more barren portions 

 of our islands. 



The fully adult male Chaffinch in breeding plumage has the forehead velvety 

 black, the crown and nape steel blue, the former sometimes tinged with green, the 

 latter somewhat ashy; tlie mantle bright chestnut; lower back bluish ash-grey at 

 base of feathers, sap-green at tips, changing to bright sap-green on the rump and 

 upper tail-coverts ; lesser and median wing-coverts white ; greater coverts black 

 tipped with white ; quills smoky-brown, with narrow dull yellow edges to the 

 outer webs ; two central tail-feathers smoky-brown, remaining feathers blue-black ; 

 the two outer feathers with broad wedge-shaped white patches, that on the outer- 

 most one occupying fully half the feather ; sides of head, throat, breast, and iVont 

 of belly vinous-chestnut, lower belly aud flanks somewhat duller and greyer ; under 

 tail-coverts white ; beak leaden-blackish, paler beneath ; feet dull brown ; iris 

 hazel. After the autumn moult the feathers of the crown have brownish edges, 

 the under parts are slightly paler and the beak is flesh-brown, with dark tip. The 

 female has the crown and back buffish-brown, aud the under parts buffish-grey ; it 

 also appears to be slightly smaller than the male. The young in first plumage 

 are similar to the female, but rather paler : in the first year the}' do not attain 

 their full beauty, the crown being brownish with two dusky longitudinal stripes ; 

 indeed the full sheeny lustre is not acquired until about the third year ; the 

 median wing-coverts also are more exposed in old birds, making the white belt 

 across the wing broader.* 



Pied examples of the Chaffinch are not ver}' rare, and the white in the 

 plumage certainly increases with age. I caught one in my garden many years 

 ago, aud exhibited it for two years running at the Crystal Palace Bird Show. A 

 second bird presented to me about 1904, developed a white spot on the nape which 

 increased in size with each successive moult. 



Like the British Buntings, the Chaffinch both runs aud hops ; on the ground 

 it almost invariably either runs or walks ; also during the summer months it is 

 almost exclusively insectivorous ; like the Buntings again, it accustoms its young 

 to taking food from its beak at a much earlier age than do the other typical 

 Finches : its position, therefore, should certainly be at the end of the Subfamily of 

 which it is the type, and immediatel}' before the Einbcrizina. It has even been 

 asserted that the Chaffinch pairs on the wing, but this fable is based upon its 

 violent and impetuous courtship, in which respect it corresponds with the members 

 of the New World genus Sycalis, both sexes sometimes falling to the earth strug- 



' I have not seen these \ oiiits uoted in auj- ilcscription, indeed they niav pass for variations to those 

 wlio have not reared Chaffinches from the nest; they are also overlooked by judges at shows, who often give 

 a prize to birds of tlif year (not in full adult colouring). 



