28 BIRD NOTES 



After all it is as perilous to place one's love too 

 low as too high. I was grieved to lose those 

 goldfinches. 



A chaffinch too in my garden has apparently 

 had the same object, that of protection by means 

 of colour, in view. Its nest, in a juniper, is made 

 of bright moss, exactly the tint of the young shoots 

 of the tree. This, I am sorry to say, appears to 

 have been abandoned. There were several eggs in 

 it, which were quite cold when I found it. 



Besides protective colouring there are two 

 other qualities that recommend certain materials 

 to nest-builders, viz. flexibility and length. Every- 

 one must have noticed how sparrows and other 

 birds will steal pieces of string or thread, or any- 

 thing long and limp, when they are building. 

 Only the other day I caught a sparrow trying hard 

 to untie a piece of thick string by which the 

 branch of a tree had just been tied back ; it would 

 have succeeded if I had not come to the rescue. 

 T have had the ties of budded roses taken away by 

 them also. I have seen forget-me-not, alyssum, 

 laburnum, and clematis, all long and limp sprays, 

 made use of. J looks too are fond of young 

 branches of weeping willow. JJut there can be 

 no doubt that birds have a very keen sense of the 

 protectiveness of colour; if a blue tit is startled, 

 it is sure to take refuge in a higty branch against 



