508 FRINGILLID.E. 



second or third, which are equal, and the longest in the wing. Legs with the tarsi 

 of moderate length ; toes divided, and adapted for hopping and perching ; claws 

 curved and sharp. 



THE male Chaffinch is one of the most handsome of our 

 common small birds, and in his general deportment is as 

 lively as he is handsome. Thus distinguished by bright co- 

 lours and active habits, and being besides very numerous as 

 a species, and confident in behaviour, allowing the near ap- 

 proach of observers without exhibiting much alarm, the Chaf- 

 finch is extremely well known ; and as his gay appearance 

 and song, frequently noticed as early as February, points 

 him out as one of the first of our indigenous birds to afford 

 an indication of returning spring, he is for these various 

 reasons a general favourite. With our Continental neigh- 

 bours the Chaffinch is one of their most common cage- 

 birds ; and in France, from the lively colours and demean- 

 our of this bird, the term " gay as a Chaffinch" is a 

 proverbial phrase in frequent use. Linnaeus, in his Fauna 

 of Sweden, says that the female Chaffinches migrate from 

 that country in winter, but that the males do not, and he 

 bestowed upon the species the name of ccelebs, or bachelor, 

 in reference to these deserted males. At the present time 

 Professor Nilsson, of Sweden, says, that although but few 

 remain in that country during winter, they are not males 

 only; but even the temporary separation of the sexes 

 among birds is not an unusual occurrence, and Mr. Selby, 

 in his history of the Chaffinch, says, that in " Northumber- 

 land and Scotland this separation takes place about the 

 month of November, and from that period till the return of 

 spring, few females are to be seen, and those few always in 

 distinct societies. The males remain, and are met with, 

 during the winter, in immense flocks, feeding with other 

 granivorous birds in the stubble lands, as long as the 



