Chaffinch and Chiff-chaff. 73 



tended them for concealing its habitation, rather than 

 making it known to the public. 



This nest was found in the shrubbery of one of the town 

 gardens in Boss, where lichen may have been scarce, while 

 scraps of old newspapers lying about in plenty served the 

 bird as a substitute. Withal it is rather an odd case of 

 accommodation to circumstances. 



CHAFFINCH AND CHIFF-CHAFF. 



Throughout the month of May and up to June these two 

 birds are heard almost continuously from earliest daybreak 

 to latest twilight. The ordinary note of the Chiff-chaff, 

 which resembles the sound made by the file in sharpening 

 a saw, is anything but agreeable, many people pronouncing 

 it the reverse ; while the strain of the Chaffinch, though 

 cheerful enough, becomes tiresome through constant 

 repetition. One day I took out my watch to time one 

 which was singing in a tree close by; and, after carefully 

 counting, I found that it repeated its song 7J times to 

 the minute, or 450 in an hour. And for many hours of 

 the day this was kept up, with only now and then short 

 intervals of silence. We could forgive the " Bachelor 

 bird" for the plenteous outpouring of his monotonous 

 note, as it cheers us at a season when most other song- 

 sters are chary of theirs, or altogether silent. But it is 

 withal somewhat vexatious just now, as it hinders the 

 hearing and distinguishing the songs of rarer species, 

 who make but a short stay with us. 



