150 Bird-keeping. 



white in the wings than the female, and the lower part 

 of the body red instead of a dingy green ; the yellow 

 circles round the eyes are brighter too. They should 

 be fed chiefly on bird-turnip, with a little canary-seed, 

 and should have crushed hemp-seed occasionally, but 

 too much of this seed is injurious to them ; groundsel, 

 chickweed, and other green food, and ants' eggs and 

 mealworms from time to time. In their natural state 

 Chaffinches are partially insectivorous, and although 

 they are fond of the young shoots of vegetables, and 

 do mischief by eating them as soon as they appear 

 above ground, they do great service by destroying 

 numbers of aphides and other insects which would be 

 far more destructive : they are very fond of the seeds 

 of the dead nettle and groundsel. The Chaffinch builds 

 the prettiest nest possible, deeply cupped, of moss, 

 wool, hair, and lichens, in the fork of a branch where 

 it joins the main stem. She lays four or five eggs. 

 Early in the autumn the birds separate, the males con- 

 gregating together, and the females and young birds 

 assembling in other flocks; from this circumstance the 

 Chaffinch is called Fringilla ccelebs. In the north of 

 Europe he is a migratory bird, but with us a resident 

 throughout the year, and the flocks of Chaffinches 

 which haunt our hedgerows and gardens in winter, are 

 increased by migrations from the Continent both during 

 the severe cold and in the spring. 



In confinement the Chaffinch is generally kept in a 



