CHAFFINCH. 535 



composed of moss, studded with white or green lichens, as 

 may best accord with the situation in which it is built ; 

 the inside is lined with wool, and this again covered with 

 hair and some feathers ; the eggs are usually four or five 

 in number, of a pale purplish buff, sparingly streaked and 

 spotted with dark reddish brown. The place chosen is 

 variable ; sometimes it is fixed in the fork of a bush in a 

 hedgerow, on a branch of a wall-fruit tree, frequently in 

 an apple or pear tree several feet above the ground. A 

 correspondent in the Field Naturalists' Magazine, relates 

 that a pair of Chaffinches built in a shrub so near his sit- 

 ting-room window as to allow him to be a close observer 

 of their operations. The foundation of their nest was laid 

 on the 12th of April; the female only worked at the nest- 

 making, and by unwearied diligence, the beautiful struc- 

 ture was finished in three weeks : the first egg was deposited 

 on the 2nd of May ; four others were subsequently added, 

 and the whole five were hatched on the 15th. During the 

 time of incubation, neither curiosity nor constant observa- 

 tion from the opened window disturbed the' parent bird ; 

 she sat most patiently ; the" male bird often visited his 

 partner, but it was not discovered whether he ever brought 

 her food. 



The Chaffinch is too generally distributed over all the 

 British Islands to require extended notice of localities ; it 

 inhabits Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and other northern 

 parts of the European continent, extending southwards to 

 the shores of the Mediterranean, being migratory in the 

 colder countries, and stationary in those which are warmer. 

 It is found in Sicily, Malta, and Crete. It is a common 

 bird in the Levant and in Northern Africa. I have little 

 doubt that it is also found in the Canary Islands and Ma- 

 deira, as it has been seen by Mr. Charles Darwin, and 

 another observer, as far west as Terceira, one of the Azores. 



