no British Birds^ 



FAMILY XVn.— FRINGILLID^. 



CHAFFINCH— (/^n-;^^///^ ccelebs), 



Spink, Pink, Twink, Skelly, Shelly, Shell-apple, 

 Scobby, Shilfa, Buckfinch, Horsefinch, Copperfinch, 

 Whitefinch, Beechfinch, Wet-bird. — One of our most 

 beautiful birds is the male of this species — one of quite 

 the most beautiful of our English nests is its nest. It 

 would be a shame if he, with his gay dress and handsome 

 appearance, were the bachelor he is called in his Latin 

 name. It is, however, only at one period of the year 

 that the sexes in the Chaffinch tribe (as in many other 

 kinds of birds) separate. The song of the Chaffinch, 

 though not of great compass or variety, is very cheery 

 and sweet, and very different from his melancholy 

 cry of " Weet, weet," which many country people 

 take as a prognostication of rain ; — whence his local 

 name of Wet-bird. The nest, always in a tree-fork or. 

 bush or hedge, always firmly and securely built in, 

 always contrived and fashioned with a wonderful 

 compactness, neatness and beauty, is formed of mosses, 

 with various-shaded lichens on the surface, and lined 

 with wool and hair and feathers, the last two being 

 the finishing substances. I never knew more than five 

 eggs to be laid, oftener four, of a peculiar winey-red 

 dun, spotted and streaked — and most near the large 

 end — with a rich, dark Sienna brown. I once found 

 a nest in which all the eggs were of nearly a uniform 

 creamy white, a little suffused with vinous red. The 

 eggs in their comeliness befit the nest, and the nest is 

 worthy of the bird. The female is, however, the 



