THE FINCHES 119 



her food, or sings to her, near, amidst the branches or from the tall 

 spire in which they end, or, in love-flight, circles like a roseate 

 flame above that close, dark bower where all his heart lies hid. He 

 will sing as he circles, too, sometimes the true finch ecstasy and 

 thus we see the same figure that was used in the courtship continued 

 now when courtship is no longer needed. But the old feelings remain, 

 and so the old measure is trodden. 



We may say, perhaps, that the nest constructed by the crossbill 

 offers the highest example of the massive, as opposed to the light, 

 style of finch architecture, the last being best represented by the 

 chaffinch, brarnbling, goldfinch, siskin, and perhaps both the redpolls. 

 From it there is a declension through that of the bullfinch, which 

 yet retains considerable excellence, to the greenfinch's, linnet's, 

 twite's and hawfinch's. In the nest of the greenfinch we have, as it 

 were, a sort of middle degree of merit, which seems to have developed 

 along two paths, one via Bullfinch to Crossbill, the other through 

 Carduelis to Coelebs. To some, perhaps, this road-map may seem 

 fanciful, but what is science when not quickened by the imagina- 

 tion? 



As has been seen, although it is generally, if not always, 

 the female finch who takes the chief part in building the nest, 

 whilst, in several cases, she may be alone the architect, yet there 

 is almost invariably a conflict of evidence, both in regard to this 

 latter point 1 and also as to the extent to which she is helped 

 by the male. From the incubatory point of view, also, the conjugal 

 merits of the latter have been frequently in dispute, so that there 

 can, I think, be little doubt that, in both these respects, some in- 

 dividuals make better husbands than others. Speaking generally, 

 however, it would seem that whilst, in the case of the chaffinch, 

 hawfinch, bullfinch and mealy redpoll, to go no further the male, 

 as well as the female, incubates (leaving the share taken by each 

 doubtful), in that of the crossbill, goldfinch, greenfinch, linnet and 



1 The crossbill is, as far as I know, the sole exception. 



