296 WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 



pointed arch over the stuffed chaffinch. The live 

 decoy bird in the cage from time to time uttered a few 

 notes, which were immediately answered by a wild 

 bird in the elms overhead. These notes are a chal- 

 lenge ; and the bird in the tree supposes them to pro- 

 ceed from the stuffed bird in the grass, and descends 

 to fight him, when, as the deceived bird alights, his 

 wings or feet come in contact with the whalebone 

 sometimes he perches on it and the lime holds him 

 fast. 



At that season (March) the cock birds have an 

 irresistible inclination to do battle; they are cease- 

 lessly challenging each other, and the fowler takes 

 advantage of it to snare them. Now, this man said 

 that these chaffinches sold for 6s. the dozen, and 

 that when the birds were " on," as he called it, he 

 could catch five dozen a day. In a walk of four or 

 five miles I passed half a dozen such fellows, with 

 cages and stuffed chaffinches. This alone proves that 

 cock chaffinches are very numerous in spring. Where, 

 then, are they in winter, if the flocks of chaffinches at 

 that period consist almost exclusively of female birds ? 

 Probably they fly in small bodies of three or four, or 

 singly, and so escape observation. But this division 

 of the sexes presents a curious resemblance to the 

 social customs discovered amongst certain savages. 

 During the winter the birds separate, and the females 

 " pack." In the spring the males appear, and after 

 a period of fighting for the mastery, pair, and the 

 nests are built. After the young are reared, song 



