2 CHAFFINCH 



spider-webs. In fact the bird accommodates itself to circum- 

 stances, using such materials as are at hand. The upper 

 edge of the nest is generally very neatly woven with 

 slender fibres, and the width of the open part is often 

 not more than an inch and a half, but usually an inch 

 and three quarters ; the whole is firmly fixed between 

 the branches, to which some of its component parts are 



attached. 



" the Shilfa's nest, that seems to be 



A portion of the sheltering tree." 



In the neighbourhood of Belfast, where there are 

 "branches" of the cotton manufacture, these birds use that 

 material in the construction of their nests ; and in answer 

 to the objection that its conspicuous colour would betray 

 the presence of the nest, and not accord with the theory 

 that birds assimilate the outward appearance of their 

 structures to surrounding objects, it was replied, says Mr. 

 Thompson, that, on the contrary, the use of cotton in that 

 locality might rather be considered as rendering the nest 

 more difficult of detection, as the roadside hedges and 

 neighbouring trees are always dotted with tufts of it. 



The eggs are four to six in number, of a short oval 

 form, and are usually of a pale bluish green colour. They 

 are streaked or somewhat spotted irregularly over their whole 

 surface with dark, dull, well-defined reddish brown spots. 

 Some have been found of a uniform dull blue, without 

 any spots. 



Two broods are usually reared every season. 



