THE CHAFFINCH. 



397 



autumn, the females departing to some other region, and the males 

 congregating in vast multitudes, consoling themselves as they best can 

 by the pleasures of society for the absence of the gentler portion of 

 the community. 



The note of this bird is a merry kind of whistle, and the call-note 

 is very musical and ringing, somewhat resembling the word " pinck," 

 which has therefore often been applied to the bird as its provincial 

 name. 



The nest of the Chaffinch is one of the prettiest and neatest among 

 the British nests. It is deeply cup-shaped, and the materials of which 

 it is composed are moss, wool, hair, _ _ ^^-- 



and lichens, the latter substances fz;^--~— - 

 being always stuck profusely over 

 the surface, so as to give it a re- 

 semblance to #he bough on which 

 it has been built. The nest is al- 

 most invariably made in the up- 

 right fork of a branch, just at its 

 junction with the main stem or 

 bough from which it sprang, and 

 is so beautifully worked into har- 

 mony with the bark of the partic- 

 ular tree on which it is placed 

 that it escapes the eye of any but 

 a practised observer. Great pains 

 are taken by the female in making 

 her nest, and the structure occu- 

 pies her about three weeks. The 

 eggs are from four to five in number, and their color is a pale brownish 

 buft', decorated with several largish spots and streaks of a very dark 

 brown. 



The color of this pretty bird is as follows : At the base of the l)eak 

 the feathers are jetty black, and the same hue, but with a slight dash 

 of brown, is found on the wings and the greater wing-coverts. The 

 top of the head and the back of the neck are slaty gray, the back is 

 chestnut, and the sides of the head, the chin, throat, and breast are 

 bright ruddy chestnut, fading into a colder tint upon the abdomen. 

 The larger wing-coverts are tipped with white, the lesser covei-ts are en- 

 tirely of the same hue, and the tertials are edged with yellowish white. 

 The tail has the two central feathers grayish black, the next three pairs 

 black, and the remaining feathers variegated with black and white. 

 The total length of the bird is six inches. The female is colored some- 

 thing like the male, but not so brilliantly. 



Of all the British Finches, none is so truly handsome as the Gold- 



34 



The Chaffinch {Fringilla coelebs) 



