THE CHAFFINCH 
great extent of discarded wax vestas and bits of thread 
and silk, the sides garnished with paper from cigarette- 
ends. Nearly a fortnight is occupied in its construction. 
The five or six eggs are pale bluish green in ground colour, 
spotted, speckled, and occasionally streaked with dark 
purplish brown, suffused with paler brown, many of 
the dark round spots being surrounded by paler washes. 
The parents become very noisy and demonstrative when 
disturbed at the nest. After the breeding season Chaf- 
finches flock, and often associate with Greenfinches, 
Sparrows, and other seed-eating species, then frequenting 
stubbles, ricks, farmyards, and even the roads. 
The male Chaffinch is a very handsome bird, some of 
the upper parts being slate-grey, merging into black on 
the forehead, chestnut on the mantle, and green on the 
rump; the wings are dark brown margined with yellow, 
the coverts black and white, showing out very boldly as a 
bar during flight ; the tail is brownish black, the central 
feathers grey, the two outermost having a wedge-shaped 
mark of white. ‘The under parts are pale chestnut, with 
a pronounced pinkish flush on the breast and abdomen, 
and shading into white on the vent and under tail-coverts. 
Bill black; tarsi and toes black; irides brown. Length 
7 inches. ‘The female has the same patterns of colour as 
the male, but her plumage is not so brilliant, and the head 
is nearly uniform with the back; the under surface is 
rufous brown, and shows no vinaceous tint. In the nest- 
ling the wings and tail are similar to those of the adult, 
but the small body-feathers are greyish brown, with 
obscure dark centres, except to those on the abdomen 
and under tail-coverts. 
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