Chaffinches. 263 



bii'ds seemed afterwards as numerous as the sparrows. 

 Never, in the wildest district I have ever visited, 

 have I ever seen so many. They had become so accus- 

 tomed to passers-by that they took no notice unless 

 purposely disturbed. Several times I stood under an 

 oak bough that projected across the sward by the 

 roadside, with a nightingale perched on it overhead, 

 straining his throat. The bough was some twelve 

 feet high, and in full view of every one. This road 

 was constructed about a hundred years ago ; and it 

 would be interesting to learn if a country lane pre- 

 ceded it, well sheltered on both sides by thick hedges. 

 Birds are fond of such places, and having once formed 

 the habit of coming there, would continue to do 

 so after the highway was laid down. 



It has been stated that the flocks of chaffinches 

 which may be seen in winter consist entirely of 

 females. Male chaffinches are rarely seen : they 

 have migrated, or in some other manner disappeared. 

 Yet so soon as the spring comes on the males make 

 their presence known by calling their defiant notes 

 from every elm along the road. Last spring (1878) 

 I fell into conversation with a fowler. He had a 

 cock chaffinch in a cage covered with a black cloth, 

 except on one side. The cage was placed on the 

 sward beside the road, and near it a stuffed cock 

 bird stood on the grass. Two pieces of whalebone 

 smeared with bird-lime formed a pointed arch over 

 the stuffed chaffinch. The live decoy bird in the cage 

 from time to time uttered a few notes, which were 

 immediately answered by a wild bird in the elms 

 overhead. These notes are a challenge ; and the 

 bird in the tree supposes them to proceed from the 



