FRINGILLID®. i75 
quote a note in the ‘ Zoologist,’ which, after giving a 
long list of its misdemeanours both in the field and 
the garden, in which latter place the buds of the 
polyanthus and the seeds of mustard and cress and 
radishes seem to have great attractions, winds up by 
saying, “So large is the number of seeds of weeds 
that the Chaffinch consumes in the course of a year, 
more particularly of groundsel, chickweed and butter- 
cups, that he without doubt more than compensates 
for all his misdeeds; and as his summer food par- 
tially, and that of his young family exclusively, con- 
sists of caterpillars and other noxious insects, he is 
in reality the gardener’s best friend. The Chaffinch 
also has a habit occasionally of flying from the 
branch of a tree and returning after the manner of 
the Spotted Flycatcher, and I believe at that time it 
is similarly employed in catching insects flying by. 
The Chaffinch lives and sings very well in confine- 
ment, and eats nearly anything a Canary wiil, but I 
have not found it breed in my aviary; this may be 
for the want of proper materials and a proper locality 
for its nest, or from the want of a sufficient supply 
of insect and caterpillar food for its young ones. 
The nest is one of the neatest and prettiest of the 
various structures to be found amongst ‘‘ Homes 
without Hands”: itis placed in a variety of situa- 
tions, amongst the ivy or creepers on the side of a 
wall or tree, in the forked branch of almost any tree 
(especially an apple tree) or in some low bush. The 
