THE FINCHES 115 



found had, invariably, no stone inside them. Thus all the facts were 

 accounted for, but in spite of this very great merit in an hypothesis 

 not the less uncommon because indispensable this ancient one of the 

 siskin-stone has been constantly losing ground, and it is now a very 

 long time since any ornithologist of standing has declared himself 

 unreservedly in its favour. It has been succeeded by that of protec- 

 tive assimilation, since not only is the nest of the siskin, a small object, 

 sheltered by its immediate surroundings, but the materials of which it 

 is built are largely composed of them. Thus the first layer or founda- 

 tion is composed of such thin, lichen-grown twigs as sway about it, 

 whilst the long, beard- or tail-like growths which festoon every bough 

 are the principal stores of the second. Some nests, indeed, are almost 

 wholly composed of such lichens, both without and within, even to the 

 exclusion of the usual layer of vegetable wool, mixed with feathers, 1 

 but this is far from common. All these things and some others, 

 including spiders' webs, play their part in the average specimens, the 

 general appearance, when completed, being something like that of a 

 miniature goldfinch's nest, which, of course, is high praise. 



The greenfinch and linnet have much alike in their architecture, 2 

 except that the former, being a larger bird, builds a larger nest 

 Coarsely woven on the outside, the interior fabric is finer, and the 

 cup being well shaped, it may pass, on the whole, as a neatly made 

 structure, though with some slovenly exceptions. In the matter of 

 situation, the bird is not nice. Tree, bush, and hedgerow are equally 

 affected by him, 3 but his highest instincts are, perhaps, satisfied by an 

 evergreen in a shrubbery. As for the linnet, he prefers a bush 

 especially a furze-bush but trees are not disdained by him, and nests 

 on the ground are frequent, or even habitual in certain localities. 4 



1 Naumann, Naturgeschichte der Vogel Mitteleuropas, iii. See also the similar statement 

 of Collett in regard to the brambling's nest (ante, p. 112). 



2 Naumann, op. cit., iii. Naumann seems to have been much impressed with this resem- 

 blance, whilst others, as so often happens, can't understand how he could have been. 



3 See ante, " Classified Notes," p. 65. 



4 See Naumann, op. cit., iii. Naumann himself declares that the bird's choice of a site is 

 extraordinarily varied. He gives more botanical examples than my German can keep pace with, 

 and adds to them, as something more exceptional, the straw thatch of cottages, etc. 



