GREENFINCH 129 



the qualities that go to make a favourite. Of finches of the home- 

 stead that possess beauty and melody there are only two the chaf- 

 finch and the greenfinch ; and it is the fact that most people have 

 a great esteem for the first, and pay but very slight attention to 

 the second. The greenfinch is not formed on the graceful lines of 

 the goldfinch and some other members of the family ; he is made 

 more after the pattern of the hawfinch, and is somewhat heavy in 

 appearance. Kegarding his colouring only, he is a prettier bird 

 than his neighbour, the chaffinch, his plumage showing two colours 

 that contrast beautifully olive-green and brilliant yellow. It is 

 not often that we can see him in the proper light and position. 

 He is strangely fond of concealing himself in the green foliage, 

 which makes him in his green dress invisible. Seen in the shade 

 or against a bright light, his colour appears dull and indeter- 

 minate ; but against a background of green leaves, with the sunlight 

 on him, he is certainly beautiful. 



The greenfinches are very sociable in disposition, and all the 

 summer long, even when they are engaged in breeding, they may 

 be seen in parties of three, or four, or half a dozen ; two or three 

 nests are often found on the same branch, or in close proximity. 

 The passions of jealousy and anger, so common among birds in the 

 pairing season, seem not to exist in this species. As a songster he 

 cannot compare with the linnet, the chaffinch, and the goldfinch, 

 but he probably produces more pleasant sound than any other finch, 

 unless we include the chirruping of the sparrow. He is attached to 

 gardens and shrubberies, to groves and hedges, and hedgerow trees, 

 especially elms, and among the clustering leaves in which he loves to 

 hide he is constantly uttering his various notes, the commonest of 

 which is a low and long-drawn trill. Occasionally he gives out 

 another long, single note, with a very different sound, a kind of soft- 

 toned, inflected scream, used sometimes as a call-note and some- 

 times to express alarm ; and this he will often repeat again and 

 again at short intervals. When uttering his trill, which is his 

 favourite expression, among the leaves, bird answering bird with 

 trills that vary in tone, he gives out from time to time another 

 sound, a series of warbled notes, soft and melodious in character. 

 Occasionally, in the pairing season, the male bird flies up out of 

 the cloud of foliage and emits these warbling notes as he circles 

 round, and descends into the midst of the leaves again. The charm 

 of this perpetual summer music of the greenfinches is its airy, sub- 

 dued character, as of wind- touched leaves that flutter musically. 



K 



