FRINGILLA CCELEBS. 



403 



adhered closely by their rough edges — the wool, like cement, 

 binding the chips'! The inside was lined with rabbits' fur and 

 feathers of owls, wood pigeons, kestrels, but chiefly of cole- 

 tits — their fine downy texture preferred — with some fine grass 

 and hair. But it is needless to particularise birds' nests — for 

 different localities have different materials, although in the main 

 alike. In towns where lichens are wanting, bits of white paper, 

 or, if near a cotton factory, tufts of cotton are used, so matted 

 and woven as not to be taken asunder without breaking the 

 fibres. The eggs, usually five, are f by ^ 16 , bluish-grey, tinged 

 with pink, streaked and spotted with purple. In summer it 

 feeds on insects and larvae ; in autumn it eats the female of a 

 large aphis moth which infests larch and other firs — having the 

 virtue of the sparrow without its destructive habits. In winter 

 it lives chiefly on grain and seeds. Few birds show greater 

 change of plumage than the male chaffinch. By April the black 

 on the forehead is jet, the fine grey-blue of the head pure, the 

 throat and breast purer purple, back deeper red, and the rump 

 greener-yellow — all assuming a brighter tint. The belly ^ is 

 white, primary quills and secondary coverts black, tinged with 

 yellow. The tail has the two middle feathers bluish-grey, 

 fringed with yellow, the three on each side black, the two outer 

 with a white spot on the inner web ; iris, hazel. The female is 

 plainer. In its "Birds of the Month," I see Cassell's Monthly 

 Magazine has selected the chaffinch for March 1889, as it did 

 the sparrow for February. 



" No leaf on the tree, no bloom on the lea. 



The east wind blows free in the morning's prime, 

 Yet cheerful and gay this bird chirps his lay, 



Hearts make their own May and its pairing time." 



Most apt, for, on January 4th, 1890, a nest with three eggs 

 was got at Fettercairn, Forfarshire. 1 have got them here with 

 five eggs before the fieldfares had left us for Norway to breed. 

 Though I have placed it next the sparrow, no two birds have 

 more different nests — the one clumsy as the other is neat ; but 

 as some species of sparrows (not found in Britain) have their 

 nests on the ground like the buntings, the sparrow forms the 

 connecting link between them and the finches. It is 6 \ by 11-^ 

 in extent of wings. It inclines to man, and is easily tamed. A 

 male flew in and out of a cottage at the Grange for three years, 

 quite at home, and fed off' the floor. In April 1891 he brought 

 a wife, they built on a tree, and had three eggs. On the 12th 

 he came into the house and perched on the back of a chair : 



