2 CHAFFINCH. 



with perhaps a few feathers, the outside being entirely 

 covered with tree moss and lichens, taken from the 

 tree itself in which it is placed; the assimilation being 

 thus rendered complete. Others are without any wool, 

 its place being supplied with thistle-down, and spider- 

 cots. In fact the bird accommodates itself to circum- 

 stances, or rather circumstances to its requirements, 

 using such materials as are at hand. The upper edge 

 of the nest is generally very neatly woven with slender 

 straws, 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 for 

 the purpose. 



" 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 ap- 

 pearance 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 con- 

 sidered 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 or five in number, of a short 

 oval form, and of a dull bluish green colour, clouded 

 with dull red, often blended together into one tint. 

 They are slightly streaked, and somewhat spotted irre- 



