BRITISH SONG BIRDS. 293 



petty war having been carried on against them, from their destruc- 

 tivencss to wall fruits. They build twice in a year, and construct 

 their unartificial nests in quickset hedges, or in retired parts of 

 woods ; the young are hatched in about a fortnight, and if you wish 

 to rear the birds from the nest, take them whem the tail feathers 

 begin to make their appearance, and you may easily detect the young 

 males from the females by their reddish breast. The food on which 

 they will thrive best is rape-seed soaked in water, and mixed with 

 white bread. When they can feed themselves, you may commence 

 your course of tuition by whistling the airs you wish them to imitate, 

 and you must not be discouraged by the length of time which may 

 elapse before they can repeat the tune correctly. Soaked rape-seed, 

 with the addition of a little hemp- seed now and then, by way of a 

 treat, and some green food, such as chick-weed, water-cress, lettuce, 

 &c., is the best food for these birds; sweets and other delicacies 

 which some inexperienced persons recommend are highly injurious, 

 and should on no account be administered freely. When moulting, 

 a little saffron in their water, and a plentiful supply of green food, 

 will be found very beneficial. If these birds are fed entirely on 

 hemp-seed, they lose their variegated plumage, and become wholly 

 black ; indeed, the same alterations of colour, produced by feeding 

 much upon that seed, have been observed on other small birds, such 

 as the field-lark, wood-lark. &c. As these birds are not particu- 

 larly restless, a middle-sized cage will do. 



THE CHAFFINCH. 



This is anotiier very beautiful 

 bird, whose singing generally is not 

 much admired, though all admit 

 that the bird itself is a beauty to 

 look at. For our part, we consider 

 it a very pleasant singer, not first- 

 rate certainly, but then every bird 

 is not gifted with the voice of the 

 blackcap, and for our part we like 

 variety in the songs of birds, and 

 this is what makes listening to them 

 in the fields and woods so delightful. There is something very curious 

 in the female chaffinches quitting this country about November, and 

 leaving all the males in a melancholy state of bachelorship, or tem- 

 porary widowship, if we may be allowed so to call it, behind. Then 

 the nest of the chaffinch, for neatness and beauty of construction, 

 beats all the nests you ever saw, and so closely resembles the foliage 

 and branches amid which it is built, that only a keen and practised 

 eye would be able to discover the nest. The outside is covered so 

 beautifully with moss and lichen you know what we mean by 

 lichen, the flakes of gold and silver colours, which are a kind of 

 fringe that is often seen on the stems of trees or .growing in damp 

 places; then the nest is so neatly composed of hair, wool, and 

 feathers, that were you to try for a hundred years, with all the 



