Cbaf- 



f inched For manv ye* 1 " 8 P ast > * havs observed, that 



towards Christmas vast flocks of chaffinches have 

 appeared in the fields many more, I used to think, 

 than could be hatched in any one neighbourhood. 



But, when I came to observe them more narrowly, I was 

 amazed to find that they seemed to me to be almost all hens. I com- 

 municated my suspicions to some intelligent neighbours, who, 

 after taking pains about the matter, declared that they also thought 

 them mostly all females ; at least fifty to one. This extraordinary 

 occurrence brought to my mind the remark of Linnaeus, that ' ' before 

 winter, all their hen chaffinches migrate through Holland into 

 Italy." 



Therefore we may conclude that the chaffinches, for some good 

 purposes, have a peculiar migration of their own, in which the 

 sexes part. Nor should it seem so wonderful that the intercourse 

 of sexes in this species of birds should be interrupted in winter; 

 since in many animals, and particularly in bucks and does, the 

 sexes herd separately (except at the breeding season). G. W. 



