CHAFFINCH. 137 



Buckland, in his Notes on Gilbert White's Selborne, 

 tells us that " poor Spitalfield weavers will give 3 or 

 4 each for a good Chaffinch ; that the birds are sung 

 in matches from 1 to 5 ; and that many bird-fanciers 

 will come for miles to hear a Chaffinch." Two birds are 

 put up at a time in separate cages to sing a match ; 

 fifteen minutes is the time allowed for the singing 

 match, and the bird who does the greatest number of 

 complete songs in that time becomes the winner. It is 

 said that three Chaffinches, at Tournay, sang 1,118 

 times in an hour, the winner having 420 songs to his 

 credit ! In London the greater portion of these finches 

 are " sighted," or, as they call it, " done ; " the corner of 

 the eye is slightly touched with a red-hot needle, in 

 order that the bird, not discerning night from day, may 

 sing the more. A sad song truly, and distressing to 

 the ears of every compassionate man. 



Some think that a Chaffinch's song may thus be put 

 into words : " Ring, ring, rattle, chuck wido ; " others 

 " Ring, ring, rattle, Jack White." Some, too, will have 

 it end with " sister dear ; " and I think that this latter 

 is the most frequent termination. Although I have 

 heard birds with a different ending, and some with a 

 double trill, which is much admired, yet I believe that 

 most London dealers prefer the " chuck-wido " birds. 

 In Germany, where they say, " A Chaffinch is worth a 

 cow," we hear of (i) the double trill of the Hartz ; (2) 

 the wine song ; (3) the rider's song ; and others. The 

 wine song is thus written down : 



"Fritz, Fritz, Fritz, willst du mit zum Wein gehen? " 



And the bridegroom's song is 



" Fink, Fink, Fink, Fink, willst du denn mit dem Brautigam zieren ? " 



