72 OUR BRITISH SONG BIRDS. 
In these contests the birds are placed each in its cage upon 
a table, and the one which utters the “trill” of its song 
the most times within a specified period—usually an hour, 
wins the prize. Special men, judges, from long experience, 
of the quality of the song, are told off to mark down the 
notes of each little competitor, and any errors of voice are 
at once detected. 
Goldfinches and Linnets are also sung in a_ similar 
manner. In England the Chaffinch is now not so much 
prized as formerly, but on the Continent he is still highly 
esteemed, and in some parts of Germany is looked upon as 
quite a member of the family circle. There is another 
trait of character in the Chaffinch which I must mention, 
for in addition to his bravery, he can also be tender-hearted, 
as I hope to prove. In my avairy I had for several years 
a pair of Chaffinches. One Summer morning I picked up 
a young sparrow which had fallen from the nest, and 
though fairly feathered was unable to fly. I placed it in a 
cage in which were about a dozen other birds, including 
the Chaffinches. No notice was taken of the little stranger 
for some time, except by a Reed Bunting, who tried in a 
half-hearted sort of way to play the bully, by opening his 
beak and making a dead set at the intruder, until the 
sparrow began to cry out for food, when, to my great joy, 
I perceived the hen Chaffinch approach the seed-box, and, 
taking a few seeds in her bill, begin to feed the youngster. 
After a while the male bird joined her, and the two 
together attended to the wants of the stranger until it was 
able to look after itself. ©The behaviour of the male bird 
was most amusing. He disdained to feed the sparrow 
directly himself, but was not averse to doing it by proxy. 
So he carried his seeds to the hen, and she placed them in 
the mouth of their protégé. 
All Finches are not equally musical. The Greenfinch, 
for instance, is content with the monotonous repetition of a 
