CHAFFINCH. 181 



later. Sometimes they alight on board vessels at sea, and 

 as early as 1833 Ed. Blyth recorded the fact of two female 

 Chaffinches coming on to his ship off Whitby on October the 

 7th (Rennie's Field Naturalist, 1833). The Migration Reports 

 contain frequent interesting entries concerning the passage 

 of this bird ; in 1879 migration extended over seventy days 

 from the I7th of September to the ist of December, and 

 extensive flights are noted almost annually. There was a 

 great " rush " at Redcar on 20th November 1884, but the 

 heaviest migration ever chronicled was in 1886, and was 

 observed along the whole length of the east coast, the chief 

 " rush " being between the 3rd and the 6th of October ; 

 on 23rd December 1901, several small flocks passed Redcar 

 going southward. Late in spring the foreigners congregate 

 on the lands bordering the coast, preparatory to the return 

 journey northward. 



The habit of separation of the sexes in winter need not 

 be commented upon here further than by stating that the 

 hens and young birds assemble in the low country, whilst 

 old cocks, in smaller flocks, keep to higher ground. 



Instances of the Chaffinch singing as early as January 

 or February, and as late as October, have been known. An 

 example of exceptionally early breeding took place in 1873 

 at Heckmondwike, where eggs were found on the 8th of 

 March ; and amongst the numerous cases of curious localities 

 chosen for building sites the following may be mentioned : 

 a nest built on an old Swallow's nest which had been placed 

 on a beam, in a field shed at Scampston ; two nests built 

 together, one on top of the other, at Linton-on-Ouse in 1866 ; 

 and one at the foot of a large oak at Hebden Bridge. A nest 

 at Northallerton was found on loth May 1882, patched all 

 over with pieces of newspaper in lieu of lichens. At Beverley 

 the nest and eggs have been found built inside a deserted nest 

 of the Mistle Thrush. 



The cock bird has been occasionally noticed sitting on 

 eggs, one such instance being recorded at Settle, though it 

 may well be that this was in mistake for a hen in male plumage, 

 an example of which was shot at Chapeltown near Leeds, 



