CHAFFINCH. 



Spink, lieech Fm.h, Pink. Twiiik, Skrlly, Shell-Apple, Horse-Finch, 

 Beobby, Shilfa, l.'hany. It..! 



A* far back as the time uf Belon the powerful voice of thin bin) 

 WM remarked . "On lei garde en cage pour li faire chanter, dont 

 k chant est ai pnianot qu'il en est bMheux " (folio, 1555) ; and in 

 the mall quarto (1557) the following quatrain a printed under the 

 figure of toe bird : 



Pour bin piuer Ion me nom rinon, 

 Oat T U roii fort huluinc rt puinmntc ; 

 Je hjijr If chiald, froldan ro'Mt plliunto ; 



En cc cantnire nt k tout ma faron. 



" The passion for thi bird," says Beohstein, in bin ' Cage Bird*,' " i* 

 carried to nich an extent in Thuringia, and those which sing well are 

 ought for with so much activity, that scarcely a single chaffinch that 

 warble* tolerably can be found throughout the province. A* soon as 

 one arrive* from a neighbouring country whose notes appear good, 

 all the bird-catchers are after it, and do not give up the pursuit 

 till they have taken it This is the reason why the chaffinches in 

 this province are so indifferent songsters ; the young ones have only 

 bad masters in the old one*, and they in their turn cannot prove 

 better." 



In Kngland however it appears to have been appreciated. The 

 Hon. Dailies Barrington, in his paper ' On the Small Birds of Flight ' 

 (the bird-catcher's expression), observes that the greatest Hum he ever 

 heard given for a song-bird which had not learned to whistle tunes, 

 was five guineas for a Chaffinch that had a particular and uncommon 

 note, under which it was intended to train others. Bechsteiu says 

 the Thuriugians have been known to give a cow for a Chaffinch with 

 a fine voice. 



Bechstein, after describing the different notes that express its 

 passions and wants, among which the often-repeated cry, ' fink, fink ' 

 (our ' twink'), from which its German name is derived, he considers to 

 be mechanical and involuntary, thus speaks of its powers : " But 

 what make* it appear to still more advantage among other birds are 

 its clear and trilling tones that seem almost to approach to words ; 

 in fact, its warbling is leas a song than a kind of battemcut, to make 

 use of a French word, and U expressed in German by the word schlag 

 (trill), which is used to designate its song as well as the nightingale's. 

 Some chaffinches hare two, three, four, even five different battemens, 

 each consisting of several strains, and lasting several minutes. This 

 bird is so gnat a favourite in Germany that not a single tone of its 

 Toice has escaped the experienced ears of our bird-fanciers. They 

 have observed its nicest shade*, and are continually endeavouring to 

 improve and perfect it. I confess I am myself one of its warmest 

 admirers ; I have constantly around me the best songsters of its 

 species, and if I liked could write a good sized volume on all the 

 details of its mi; 



The following chaffinch songs, or melodies, are most esteemed in 

 Saxony and Hesse. Some are heard in the woods, but they are rarely 

 sung with a clear and strong voice. If the bird executes well, and 

 adds to the last strain the sound 'fink,' which the German bird- 

 catchers translate by ' amen,' it is of the highest value. " No price," 

 says Bechstein, " will be token for it :"- - 



1. The 'Double Trill of the Bar?..' in l,ower Saxony. 2. The 

 ' Reiter Zong,' or ' Rider's PulL* first heard among the mineral moun- 

 tains of Saxony and VoigUmd. 3. The ' Wine Song,' with the fol- 

 lowing subdivisions, namely : The 'Fine,' or ' Langst'eld Wine Song;' 

 the ' Bad Wine Song' and the ' Sharp Wine Song,' which is subdi\ 1. 1. .1 

 into the ' Common Sharp ' and the ' Ruhl Sharp.' 4. The ' liniuti- 

 gam,' or ' Bridegroom Song,' also divided into good and bad. 5. The 

 ' Double Trill.' One of these, the ' Double Trill of lamblach,' is 

 only to be acquired in the house, and is so deep and powerful that it 

 can scarcely be conceived how the larynx of so small a bird can "pro- 

 duce such sounds. Bechstein, who makes this observation, adds that 

 a Chaffinch which sings this either alone or with the ' Good Bride- 

 groom's Song ' (such as are educated at lamblach), sells at Waltera- 

 hausen for eighteen French francs, 6. The 'Qutjar,' or 'Good Year 

 with two subdivisions. ( 'Imffinchcs singing this, united to the 

 ' Wine Hong' of Ruhl, or the ' Sharp Song,' had become very rare 

 when Bechstein wrote, and fetched high prices. 7. The ' Quakia 

 Song,' formerly much admired. Bechstein says, " I believe I possess 

 the only bird that is now to bo found which sings this. To be 

 admired the ' Quakia' must be united with the ' Double Trill.' This 

 my chaffinch sings also." 8. The ' Pithia,' or 'Trewethia,' a very 

 uncommon and agreeable song, never heard but in the depths of the 

 Thiiringian mountains 



For the different modes of capturing this pretty bird, so precious 

 when in pefect long to the bird-fancier, its treatment in confinement, 

 the diseases to which it is subject, and their remedies, we must refer 

 the reader to Bechstein's 'Cage and Chamber Birds,' of which there 

 is an English edition published by Bohn (1853). 



The following description and the bird in so common that a more 

 particular one is unnecessary U from the interesting ' Journal of a 

 Naturalist ' : " The male bird is remarkable for the cleanliness and 

 trimnea* of his plumage, which, without having any great variety or 

 splendour of colouring, is so composed and arranged, and the white 

 on hi* wings so brilliant, as to render him a very beautiful little 



creature. The female is a* remarkable for the quiet unobtrusive 

 tintiugs of her dress; and when she lies crouching on her nest, 

 elegantly formed of lichens from the bark of the apple-tree, and faded 

 mosses, she would hardly be perceptible but for her little bright eye* 

 that peep with suspicious vigilance from her covert." Temminck 

 says, that in autumn after the moult, the colours of the plumage of 

 the male are more bright than they are in the spring, because all the 

 feathers of the upper and lower parts are terminated by a clear ash- 

 colour; and, at the season of love, the male bird's dress become* 

 decked with pure and brilliant colour, without the aid of a second 

 moult, the edges of the barbs' being worn away with use, and thus 

 suffering those colours which had been hidden to appear in all their 

 I- ;i".ty. 



Many varieties occur, as pure white, yellowish white, some parts of 

 the body white. The usual colours with a white collar ; wing* and 

 tail white. Aldrovandus mentions one partly yellowish and partly 

 blackish. 



This bird inhabit* almost all the countries of Europe; it is per- 

 manent in the southern parts, and a regular bird of passage in tin- 

 greatest number of localities. The Prince of Canino says that it is 

 very common near Rome, and makes its passage in October, !. n 

 numbers of them are taken for the table among other small birds at 

 Paretajo and Roccolo, but in much the larger proportion, 500 chaf- 

 finches being, according to the Prince, captured to every 80 1 

 65 goldfinches, 80 green grosbeaks or greenfinches, 

 been stated and denied, that only the female* of this bird are 

 migratory in Europe. On this point Selby observes, " In Northum- 

 berland and Scotland this separation takes place about the mouth of 

 November, and from that period till the return of spring, few females 

 are to be seen, and those few always in distinct societies. The 

 remain, and are met with, during the winter, in immense flocks, 

 feeding with other granivorous birds in the stubble lands as long a* 

 the weather continues mild and the ground free from snow ; and 

 resorting, upon the approach of storm, to farm-yards and 

 places of refuge and supply. This separation of the sexes I am 

 induced to believe takes place in many other species, with respect to 

 their migratory movements, as I have before remarked in the account 

 of the snow-bunting. This appears also to be the case with the wood- 

 cock, having observed that the first flight of these birds (which seldom 

 remain longer than a few days to recruit, and then pass southward) 

 consists chiefly of females ; whilst, on the contrary, the subsequent and 

 latest flight (which continue with us) are principally composed of 

 males. It has been noticed by several authors that the arrival of the 

 males, in a number of our summer visitants, precedes that of the 

 females by many days ; a fact from which we might infer that in such 

 species a similar separation exists between the sexes during their 

 equatorial migration." Knapp ('Journal of a Naturalist') xi\-. "\\ itli 

 us (Gloucestershire) the sexes do not separate at any period of the 

 year, the flocks frequenting our barn-doors and homesteads in wint.-i- 

 being composed of both. In the northern parts of Europe how< ver 

 the females are said to migrate to milder regions, which induced 

 Linnaeus to bestow the name of Caleb* upon this species." White 

 observes upon the vast flocks which he saw near Selborne towards 

 Christmas, all of which were hens. Jenyns says that it collect* in 

 flocks at the approach of winter, but makes no mention of the separa- 

 tion of the sexes. In Middlesex we have seen in v, inter flocks com- 

 posed mostly of females, but we have also seen both sexes, about 

 Christmas, partaking with other little winged pensioners of the crumbs 

 daily thrown out for their support. 



The Chaffinch feeds princijially on seeds. We are however 

 polled to add that they arc very injurious to the florist and gardener. 

 "These birds," says Knapp, "make sad havoc with some of our 

 spring flower*; and the polyanthus, iu March, in our she! 

 borders, is very commonly stripped of all its blossoms by these little 

 plunderers, I luppoae to obtain the Immature seeds at the base of 

 their tubes. .... At this period too they are sad plimd. i 

 our kitchen gardens, and most dexterously draw up our young t 

 and radishes as soon as they appear upon the surface of the soil ; but 

 after this all depredation ceases, the rest of their days being spent in 

 sportive innocence." Selby says that in summer it feeds much upon 

 insects and lame, and that he has witnessed its assiduity, during the 

 autumn, in devouring the females of a large species of aphis, that 

 infests the trunks and stronger branches of the larch and some oi!,. r 

 kinds of fir. In winter, he adds, - grain and other seeds constitute 

 its food. 



Like the other finches it builds one of the most beautiful nests, and, 

 as Selby observes, always accordant with the particular colour of its 

 situation. It is variously placed in trees and bushes. In orchards 

 an old apple-tree is a favourite situation. Eggs, four or five, Muixh- 

 white, tinged with pink and marked with streaks and spot* of 

 purplish-red. 



CHAILLETIA'CE^E, Chaillttiailt, an obscure imtunil order of 

 I'olypetiilous Kiogenn, some of whose species are said to bapsisoiMUl, 

 They are very near Khannacrcr, from which they differ in having the 

 stamen* alternate with the petal*, and five hypogynous glands. The 

 petals are small scalp-like bodies stationed at the orifice of a tubular 

 calyx ; the ovary is superior, and two or three celled, the ovules pendu- 

 lous, the fruit somewhat drupaceous, and the seeds without albumen. 



