A MARINE BUILDER. 225 



' The male Chaffinch,' says Yarrell, * is one of the most handsome 

 of our common small birds, and in his general deportment is as 

 lively as he is handsome. Thus distinguished by bright colours and 

 active habits, and being besides very numerous as a species, and 

 confident in behaviour, allowing the near approach of observers 

 without exhibiting much alarm, the Chaffinch is extremely well 

 known ; and as his gay appearance and song, frequently noticed as 

 early as February, points him out as one of the first of our indige- 

 nous birds to afford an indication of returning spring, he is for these 

 various reasons a general favourite. With our continental neighbours 

 the Chaffinch is one of the most common cage birds ; and in France 

 from the lively colours and demeanour of this bird the term " gay as 

 a Chaffinch," is a proverbial phrase in frequent use. 



' The Finches, generally, are remarkable for the neatness and 

 beauty of the nests they construct, and the Chaffinch is no exception 

 to the rule. The outside of their ne^t is composed of moss, studded 

 with white or green lichens, as may best accord with the situation 

 in which it is built ; the inside is lined with wool, and this is again 

 covered with hair and some feathers. The eggs are usually four or 

 five in number, of a pale purplish buff, sparingly streaked and 

 spotted with dark reddish brown. The place chosen is variable ; 

 sometimes it is fixed in the fork of a bush in a hedge-row, on a 

 branch of a wall-fruit tree, frequently in an apple or pear tree several 

 feet above the ground. A correspondent in the "Field Naturalist's 

 Magazine," relates that a pair of Chaffinches built in a shrub so near 

 his sitting-room window as to allow him to be a close observer of 

 their operations. The foundation of their nest was laid on the 12th 

 of April : the female only worked at the nest-making, and by 

 unwearied diligence, the beautiful structure was finished in three 

 weeks ; the first egg was deposited on the 2nd of May, four others 

 were subsequently added, and the whole five were hatched on the 

 15th. During the time of incubation, neither curiosity nor constant 

 observation from the opened window disturbed the parent bird ; she 

 sat most patiently ; the male bird often visited his partner, but it 

 was not discovered whether he ever brought her food.' 



During the progress of the new harbour works at Aber- 

 deen, a Chaffinch's nest was built in the cofferdam, and 

 the birds were so tame that they came and fed with the 

 workmen. 



A singular instance is also recorded of one of these birds 

 having built its nest in the block of a mast of a small 

 vessel lying at Greenock ; the vessel put to sea with the 

 mother bird sitting upon the eggs, and her partner, who 

 was ashore at the time, flew across the intervening water; 



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